Rocky Raccoon would be unlucky in Greynolds Park in North Miami Beach. I was walking in the park and noticed the absence of those annoying creatures. Usually I would spot at least 30 on a walk in this 200+ acre park (so you know there were hundreds). Park Staff said there was a massive mysterious raccoon die-off. They said that the raccoons were keeling over with seizures. And, they said the iguana's also were dying off (I saw about half the number as usual). Iguanas are an invasive species but raccoons are not.I didn't see one raccoon during my 2 hours in the park and a man living nearby confirmed all the raccoons have been gone for months. Toxic water? Disease/virus?
Die-off my ass, sounds like rat poison to me.
18 comments:
Maybe people are eating them?
If they are having seizures and dying...as park personnel said, I don't think they would be very safe to eat.
The symptoms of rabies include fever, myalgia (aching muscles), and headache, which can progress to inflammation of the brain, confusion, and SEIZURES.
Hmmm. "Raccoons act as a reservoir for rabies in the United States. In fact, the majority of rabies cases in the U.S. are in wildlife, with raccoon cases predominating. In the U.S., 90% of all rabies cases occur in wildlife. During 2000, raccoon rabies made up 41% of wildlife cases..."
So why would the staff say "mysterious" if it were rabies. And wouldn't, the park be closed? I also noticed the feral cats were missing. Anyone know the scoop?
someone probably put out poison food
This story should disturb more people than it does.
First, please stop being brainwashed by media and wildlife agencies who seem to know less than ever before.
Raccoons are NOT a walking case of rabies-about-to-happen. In fact, rabies is extremely rare and even in rabies affected areas, less than 5% of raccoons are even affected. Raccoons are not at the top of rabies cases (bats are).
What ARE raccoons? Actually very intrinsic animals. Purdue studies have declared their intelligence second only to higher monkeys and man.
So, "man oh so intelligent" Lets stop being puppets of media and misinformation, please? Our grandparents survived urban wildlife, so can we. The question is - can they survive us.
if you go to the cdc rabies website raccoons produced 130 cases in 2001 last published info bats aren't listed accross the use skunks raccoons foxes and bats produce the highest number of rabies in that order. It's still very small number compaired other diseases produced primarily from insects like mosquitoes and we all know the good bats do against them. all wildlife have their place in the environment raccoons eat rats rats eat cockroaches and it goes on. A rapid decline most likely would be poison if their was a disease causing the problem I'm sure it would be noticed by local rehabbers and vets and a notice would go out. rabies is a deadly disease for humans but parvo is the big killer for wildlife and we have had several bad years for animals including dogs dieing around the country. They believe their is a new strain that kills in a few hours and even rehabbers can't catch it quick enough to save the animals in their care.
Ate dinner tonight at Paquito's on Biscayne and 163 st, saw 1 raccoon.
Greynolds and the swamp (Ojus State Park) behind Paquito's are connected.
Not quite. There is a small Greynolds park east of US 1 on the other side of 163rd street. The park doesn't connect -- as 163rd street separates it from your seat at Paquitos. But I am not talking about that park anyway.
I am referring to the main Greynolds Park which is on West Dixie Highway and 175 Street. (That is the western side of US 1).
This is very disturbing. If there were such an issue as to cause the massive and sudden dying of raccoons? We wildlife rehabbers would know of it. Last season we fought a new strain of distemper passed on by the domestic animals.
Most of the diseases that affect our wildlife is due to non-immunization of DOMESTIC pets. Rabies never even existed in the raccoon population until canine rabies was passed onto them by dogs.
Fox, skunk and bat are the most likely to cause rabies in humans and many don't even know they were bitten by a bat when they do contract it.
Although felines, canines, and mink share the same diseases as raccoons, there would also be a massive dying of domestic/ferel cats and dogs if this were a disease.
It's more likely these creatures were poisoned by those in charge to "control" the population in an area.
There is already so much mis-information and sterotypes that are totally false about raccoons that there is mass hysteria when people see them. Wake up people. Your wildlife is being killed off and you are being told it is "mysterious". We have enough problems in our wild population with humans encroaching and stealing their territory that this is just another pull the wool over your eyes in an effort to make you believe these creatures are at fault of yet something new.
This is not a natural occurrence, it is another man made problem. Much like the guy that soaked corn in antifreeze to kill off the wildlife on his property. 200 wild turkeys and uncounted small mammals were killed due to this horrendous human's decision to remove wildlife from his area.
Wake up people and protect your native wildlife. They are no more abundant and replaceable than the buffalo that once roamed our lands. Another species killed off by humans to near extinction in record time.
Raccoon Rescue
Dory and the Orphans
http://doryandtheorphans.com
HELP Your Native Wildlife!!
I grew up near Greynolds Park.
Back when I was a kid, we had some gators in the park, which kept the raccoons away from the nesting islands where thousands of birds would come to lay eggs. Once the rangers removed the gators, the raccoons could swim freely to the island and ate all the eggs. Bye Bye birds.
Now someone is probably poisoning the raccoons, perhaps to "save" the birds, and it will again have some unintended but negative consequence on the balance of nature.
Why do I feel like singing Pete Seeger's The People Are Scratching?
What about the fact that the Racoons and Iguanas (most of which died off due to a cold snap, something that keeps them in check and also something that we have fewer and fewer of these days)destroyed the Flamingo population that used to inhabit Greynolds Psrk.
When I first went to Greynolds Park in 1993 I walked along the shore by that nesting island and saw a tree with white blossoms. When I got closer, I saw the white blossoms were white birds. Never saw that again.
Many iguanas don't die in a short cold snap. They appear dead - don't move - but revive when it warms up.
1. there has been a feral cat issue there for about 10 years.
2. since everything is gone, something isn't right, and i can't imagine that the parks folks don't have a hunch. it is the parks staff responsibility to keep an eye on things
3. i know of one iquana (about a four footer) that didn't survive last years cold snap. it fell out and didn't come back awake, in my yard, unfortunately.
Perhaps it is worth checking into to find out what chemicals are being used to treat the trees and lawns in that park. The poison could very well be insecticides being used, or overly applied.
A few years ago I had several calls for deformed raccoon babies in the Chicago area. They looked like the thalidomide babies from the 50's. And after research? Thalidomide was being used in the poison that was being over used on the crops. Thalidomide was banned many years ago but hasn't stopped the use of it.
If all the animals have disappeared you definitely have poisoning going on.
To address the inquiry of "what about the flamingos"? If the park rangers hadn't removed the gators in the first place, the natural order would not have been broken and the raccoons and iguanas would have never made it to the island to access the abundant food source. Don't blame the animals, point to the humans who took it upon themselves to rearrange nature.
Raccoon Rescue
Dory and the Orphans
http://doryandtheorphans.com
HELP Your Native Wildlife!!
Dogs are dying in Miami and are very ill in Fort Myers, Florida. Everyone knows where Miami is; Fort Myers is located at the opposite tip of the Florida peninsula, on the Gulf of Mexico. But the two municipalities are sharing a sad distinction: Dogs in shelters are dying of a sudden, overwhelming and as-yet-unknown disease.
Things started this time last week at the Miami-Dade Animal Shelter. the shelter is located in Medley, which is an industrial area northwest of Miami. last week, dogs started getting very sick -- and dying quickly and horribly. The descriptions of the dead dogs reminded me immediately of the deaths of GIs during the 1918 pandemic. Lungs and abdomens filled with blood and fluid,; dogs lying in pools of their own blood.
2/11/2008 Scott McPherson's Web Presence
Distemper knocks raccoons off on a regular basis, peaking in my experience, every seven to ten years. They are vulnerable to both canine and feline forms.
http://www.raccoonworld.com/raccoondistemper.html
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