At a Petco in Maine, a woman brought in an adorable baby raccoon into the store to have its nails trimmed. Multiple customers spotted the little one and ran over to hug and kiss it – possibly exposing them to rabies according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife.
Once the store manager was alerted to the raccoon, the manager asked the woman with the racoon to leave the store, and contacted the Maine CDC and the Maine Warden Service.
Raccoons are one of the most common carriers of rabies in Maine. Rabies is lethal unless treated after exposure. It is spread through a rabid animal’s saliva or neural tissue, and a person can be exposed when that saliva or neural tissue of a rabid animal comes in contact with a person through a bite or scratch, cut in the skin, or gets into the eyes, nose, or mouth.
It is illegal to possess wildlife in Maine, and Petco does not trim raccoon nails.
The woman was identified, and the baby raccoon was killed, since brain samples of the wild animal need to be collected. The raccoon tested negative, and people who came into contact with the animal do not need to seek treatment for rabies.
Please Keep Wildlife Wild and if you care, leave them there.
Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife
Remember:
Always enjoy wildlife from a distance
Never approach or handle wildlife
Never feed wildlife
Never attempt to move a wild animal.
For more information on living with wildlife in Maine, please visit https://www.maine.gov/…/avoid-resolve-conflict/index.html.
Rest in peace little one. We are so sorry humans failed you.
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I WILL NEVER SHOP AT PETCO AGAIN!