A NATURAL MYSTERY
by KATE BALDWIN
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If you live in Wisconsin and only learn one thing from me, let it be this:![]()
We DON'T have raccoon rabies in Wisconsin, and never have.![]()
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Raccoon rabies is a serious concern on the east coast, and at times it's been so bad that there have been raccoon oral vaccination programs to help.![]()
The graph shows how raccoons are routinely tested in Wisconsin, but no positive cases. I linked to the most recent year they have data for (2018), but it looks generally the same for all years. (avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/256/2/javma.256.2.195.xml?tab_body=fulltext)![]()
Importantly, Wisconsin does have rabid bats, and they can transmit it to many other mammals. So, rabies is always still a risk in Wisconsin, but it's not endemic in our raccoons. (Phew! 😅 )![]()
Wisconsin does have Distemper in raccoons, a usually fatal (and terribly sad,) disease that can be transmitted to unvaccinated dogs, but not people.![]()
You should still give wild raccoons in Wisconsin a wide berth and let them be, but not because of rabies. ![]()
Learn 9 other facts Wildlife Rehabbers wish you knew in this buzz feed quiz I made years ago: www.buzzfeed.com/k8baldwin/living-with-wildlife-quiz-2wf08![]()
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Thanks to Kelly & Elena & Amy for teaching me *so many* things over the years! Almost everything on that quiz I learned from them!
If you enjoyed The Formations, then check out these recommended Mystery Books with Natural History themes!![]()
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TheFormationsMystery.com
This is best snake photo I've ever taken (probably the best one I will ever take!). It's from April of 2021 in my backyard. Garter snakes are named for the patterned strips of fabric used to hold up socks in the middle ages. (Although it would be funnier if they were named after ladies' modern frilly lingerie garters...)![]()
I also included an illustration from 'The Formations' book.![]()
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Here is a link to a comic about Garter Snakes by my favorite cartoonist, Rosemary Mosco: twitter.com/RosemaryMosco/status/1545409087285956608
The accelerated lives of chipmunks are discussed in 'The Formations'. Their calls can be a little grating at times, but they also constitute the backbeat of summer, so one can't complain. Here is an audio mix video I made with the chipmunk calls as *literally* the backbeat: youtu.be/ue3gg79cmUw![]()
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Get your copy of 'The Formations' at TheFormationsMystery.com
"...And through explosive speciation of both birds and mammals, we wind up with me, a descendant of a shrew-like insectivore, happily feeding agricultural peanuts to a descendant of a predatory velociraptor on a lovely spring morning."![]()
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theformationsmystery.com/
