To the Editor:
(Waterville, NY – March 2013) After reading Bill Mayer’s letter, I really feel that I have to defend myself and set the record straight. When you deal with a potentially rabid animal, you do not “back out of the barn and call animal control” when that “critter’ is a direct threat to your miniature horses.
If not your miniature horses it could be your dogs, numerous barn cats, cattle, livelihood or yourself.
No, I have not had any “professional training,” but I have had way more experience than I ever wanted. I believe that experience trumps “professional training” in this case. You should not see a screaming raccoon in the daytime in February.
Twenty years ago when rabies was rearing its ugly head once again, my then 3-year-old granddaughter was the first person in Oneida County to have to get rabies shots. A rabid raccoon went into their yard and attacked their dog.
How do we know it was rabid? We shot it and sent it in to be tested. It came back positive, and it was determined that she had to get the shots as she came into contact with their dog.
It put the fear of God into us. How many more of them were there out there? Was our family safe? Were any of the heifers bitten?
Over the years, we have seen many rabid raccoons. Then one day several years ago we chopped corn until 9 p.m., then went and did our chores. We finished at midnight and went to the house to get something to eat and to go to bed.
Our dog wanted to go out. She does not run loose, but has a cable that runs from the house to the shop and horsebarn. When something aggravates her she runs back and forth and makes the cable “sing.” It was about 12:30 a.m., and it dawned on me that the cable was singing. I got up to look out the window to see what was going on. Just as I did, a skunk ran down across the lawn and lit into the dog.
They were going around and around just like two dogs fighting. Charlie and I went running out in our stocking feet. As we did, Charlie grabbed a block of wood on his way out and heaved it at the skunk to try and break them up. It did no good. He ran back into the house to get a gun and I ran in to get the broom. About that time, the dog decided that she’d had enough and ran for the house with the skunk high-tailing it right behind her.
I ran out with the broom and the skunk decided that he’d had enough and ran across the lawn and into the darkness. The dog had no wounds but smelled skunky.
Several days later, the skunk turned up dead in our toolshed. We sent it in, and it came back positive. Charlie and I had to get rabies shots, as I had grabbed the dog right after the attack and Charlie had a fresh cut on his hand. It was a pain in the butt (pun intended). Rabies shots are a series of shots given over 28 days. It didn’t matter that it was a wet fall, we had corn to chop and the only sunny day of the week was shot.
As far as being legal, I am not going to stand by and watch our pets, our livestock, livelihood or family being threatened by a sick wild animal. Also, we were not harassing a wild animal, it was harassing us.
I am almost 65 years old and have hunted deer since I was 16. Charlie is older and has hunted since way before he was old enough to legally do so. I’d like to think that between the two of us we know a little about gun safety. Anyone who knows anything about guns and ammunition knows that you don’t use a deer slug or high-powered rifle bullet on a “critter.”
Small game shot was used, in a barn, in an empty horsestall, with a double wall to the outside, on a dirt floor. There was a ZERO chance that “a bullet would go crashing through my neighbor’s window.”
As for my neighbor, I am 100-percent sure that if he has a rabid animal down there threatening his dogs, livestock or family, he will call animal control at 1-800-REMINGTON, as well.
In closing, my message to Bill Mayers is that, if you are going to publicly attack someone’s character, I strongly urge you to get the facts straight before you do. In the meantime, I hope you don’t have the misfortune to encounter a rabid animal. If you do, don’t wreck the head. They need to brain intact to test it for rabies. A “professional” told me that.
Gretchen Maine, Waterville