Reports of Area Sick Raccoons

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Our intake center has been getting many calls about sick raccoons. The raccoons seem disoriented, lethargic, may be seen stumbling or dragging their rear legs, and they appear either unafraid of people/domestic pets or too sick to run away. Although we suspect this could be due to an outbreak of canine distemper, testing has not confirmed this yet. We have sent out (at our own expense) several deceased animals for necropsies. We have no idea how widespread the outbreak is (we have reached out to The Wildlife Center of Texas in Houston but they have not responded), but we have been receiving raccoons from a very widespread area of Montgomery County, including Conroe, Magnolia, The Woodlands, Willis, and Porter. So far we appear to be the only ones helping with this outbreak in Montgomery County. Please, if you notice any raccoons that appear to be sick, call us for assistance or guidance. Unfortunately we have no paid staff to pick animals up, but we will try to assist the public with getting diseased animals taken in and humanely euthanized. If you do have to bring an animal in, please call first (281-259-0039) and consider donating towards the disposal fee (cremation is the best way to assure the disease doesn’t spread). Please remember we are unfunded and depend on donations to keep our doors open, so a situation like this really taxes our limited resources. Also check to be sure domestic pets are current on vaccines. We will advise when testing (hopefully) confirms what is causing the outbreak.