D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
May 2008
Rabies
Page: 2Q. What are the early signs of rabies before the animal actually acts, well, rabid?
A. It will have extreme attitude changes. If it is normally aggressive or even vicious, it may become docile; if it is shy and docile, it may become aggressive. A wild animal that usually sleeps during the day may be seen at high noon, or if it is active in daytime, it might become active at night. A wild animal may become overly friendly or just lie about in the open near your house or on a trail. In domestic animals it might quit eating, or do lots of salivating or become very lethargic.
Q. What are the final signs of rabies?
A. The animal could be furious (like Old Yeller) or very docile, even paralytic. In cattle and horses they usually go dumb and down or paralyzed, usually starting with the tail end and working forward.
Q. What is a good initial step in preventing our pets from getting rabies, other than vaccinations?
A. Keep them inside the house or in a critter-proof pen, not chained to a tree or doghouse! By the way, the shelter provides rabies clinics at a very good price once a month; the last I checked it was $8 for a rabies shot, and $18 for the other shot [for dogs; cats are $13], plus they give you a license for the pet. That's a real bargain.
Q. This is going to sound weird, but can an infected person give their partner rabies via sex?
A. No, but there was a weird case where an infected person died in an auto accident and their corneas were donated to another. The recipient of the eye transplant was infected and died from the rabies.
Q. What is the incubation on a human once they contract rabies and do not get treatment?
A. It varies from days to months depending on the location of the bite; the closer to the brain, the quicker the person will die.
Q. Is one strain more virulent than another?
A. No, in fact they can't tell one form from another except by antibody tests and humans are susceptible to all of the strains.
That concluded our conversation, but I'd like to further editorialize with a few of my own observations.
First off, don't think that if you keep Fluffy or Fido in the house all of the time that there isn't risk, albeit a remote one. If a rodent such as a mouse becomes infected, then enters your house (or RV) and your pet attacks it or even eats it, that pet now has rabies! Get them vaccinated.
Why is the rabies so bad in Silver City and not as bad in other geographical areas? I believe it is because of the Boston Hill area. Before the town bought it, the private leasees allowed shooting, hunting and trapping on the Hill. Those activities kept the populations of all predators down. When it became public property, the town forbade such activities and rightfully so — after all, you can't have hikers and dog owners in dangerous situations! But that allowed and fostered the critters to increase dramatically in population, especially with all of those rock piles to breed and rear families in.
If you study the demographics in Silver City, you will see that the epicenter of the rabies activity is Boston Hill, and spreads from there. In the rural areas where trapping and hunting is allowed, the outbreak is far less and more remote to humans and their animals.
I suggest that the town close Boston Hill to human activity for a proper period, and get special permission from the New Mexico Game and Fish Department for a qualified trapper to go in and reduce the population and properly dispose of the carcasses.
The animal rightists are correct when they say that if left to its own device, nature will take care of the problem. But can we as responsible people wait for that to happen, especially in light of all of the stray dogs and cats that roam Grant County, let alone all of the people who use that area to hike?
By the way, in the last month's issue, a reader asked what I thought on public-lands trapping? I believe that it is a necessary practice that must be tolerated by the public so that wildlife populations may be partially kept in check to possibly reduce the threat of incidences like our recent rabies outbreak.
As always, keep the sun forever at your back, the wind forever in your face, and may the Forever God bless you, and be careful out there!