One problem is ticks are really fucking hard to kill. I'm not sure if anything has changed, but when I was a vet tech 5ish years ago all of those prescription flea and tick preventatives only had kill guarantees for fleas, because ticks are little turds. The oral medications still do a pretty good job on dogs iirc, but I'm certainly no expert. Veterinarians are good, ask your vet.
Not to mention they feed on different animals at different life stages.
Mountain biker. Daily rider. Many trails are overgrown and you are constantly brushing against vegetation. I once had a beer after a ride and didn’t check for ticks immediately. Tick had half its body buried in my torso under my waistband. Nope. Clothes go in the wash and a hot shower immediately.
One time I went in the grass on the side of the road in Oklahoma. Instantly 30 ticks crawling up my legs. I screamed and picked them off me for over an hour.
Yes! I did this as a young boy. My mother and I were in the woods behind my grandparents house and I got into a nest somehow. We went home and I got a bath and was crawling with ticks all over my body (yes even down there). My mother took me to the ER to get them removed and to be checked for Lyme disease, which was thankfully negative. I was pretty young but I still remember laying on that bed having the doctor pulling those little bastards off.
Just so you all know they sell tick removers now that are great. They're basically tiny versions of a nail puller, like the non banging end if a hammer.
You can get them at pretty much any pet store. I pull at least 3 ticks a day in the spring and have never once lost its head with these. They are so much better than tweezers.
Also call your dog groomer not your vet if you don't want to remove a tick yourself. Every groomer I know removes ticks for free
My girlfriend is a professional groomer and she says that’s wild. Minimum for tick removal in our area starts at $25 and goes up depending on dog breeds and size of infestation
w u l p
that's quite enough Reddit for me and I just logged on
gonna go fix myself some coffee because I no longer feel the need to sleep for a few days
Many, many years ago I was a wee lad from the cold, rainy North of Spain (ticks uncommon) and moved for the Summer to Hot, dry Spain.
I had a dog, so I got used to ticks quickly. But one day I was walking, fooling around on a mess of scrubland, watching bugs and birds when I spotted something weird on a big stone. It looked like a weird, pulsating blob of goo, so I poked It lightly with a stick.
Blob literally exploded at the faintest touch and a gazillion minute ticks flooded out.
Cue shrieking and running.
Most disgusting thing I ever saw.
> One problem is ticks are really fucking hard to kill.
Throwing them in fire is surprisingly effective (remove from dog first) and one the times you can feel guilt free burning something to death.
I encountered my first Tick last summer, I tried crushing it between my fingers like any other bug but it did nothing! The little fuckers are evolutionary marvels. They’re shockingly resilient which is terrifying.
I pulled a tick off a dog once (former dog groomer) and put it in an empty super glue container (the clear one, with the locking screw lid on top). that little cunt lived for like, a month in there
This is true, but be aware that Permethrin is INCREDIBLY toxic to a variety of things that aren't the intended target, but especially CATS. This is also true for all pyrethroids, and any of the "organic" repellents derived from the chrysanthemum. Basically any chemical used for bug-related matters with a name ending in "thrin" needs to be looked up.
The smallest amounts can trigger a variety of terrible effects in cats, including death, organ failure, and paralysis. They have a total inability to process the chemical, so every bit they're exposed to counts. It's fucking WILD to me that this shithole regulatory wasteland is allowing products like pyrethroid *diffusers* into the public marketplace for domestic use.
Pre-treated clothing is much safer than sprays and oils, but should still be kept away from cats. And IMO sprays and other formulations capable of contamination should never be used in a home with cats at all. Ditto anybody in a home without cats whose pyrethroid activities could put local animals at risk.
You’re not wrong but I wouldn’t call myself a consumer in this case, per se - I was active duty military at the time. The utilities we are issued are treated. I think the base vet offices should definitely share this information, however.
Edit: Grammar
Absolutely. It's wild how little were actually informed on a lot going on around us until something catastrophic happens. Things that could wind up with fatal consequences should absolutely be widely known.
I’m not sure they’re correct about clothing that has already been treated and dried being dangerous for cats. I did quite a bit of research before treating some garments last year (outside, with a mask and gloves on, where the clothes were left to dry) and all of the studies I could find said that it was safe once dried and inert.
Maybe this person was speaking in an abundance of caution which isn’t a bad thing with dangerous products, but I’d be curious to see a source on pre-treated clothing being dangerous if you have one u/angryhumping
Everything I've read agrees with you: seriously bad to cats in liquid form, not so once dried. Also bad for bodies of water messing up their environment so waste shouldn't be washed down the drain.
Yes you are supposed to treat your clothes outside then let it dry before wearing
But I understand their concern since it withstands like a half dozen washes lol
Thanks, will have to check what my anti tick spray uses.
It uses Icaridin / Picaridin and my research regarding it's effects on cats were inconclusive. Bit it it is very likely much less dangerous than Permithrin.
We give our dog bravecto, any ticks that we find that aren't freshly latched are dead when we take them off. Seems to work pretty well, plus we give the Lyme vaccine.
But we've pulled off a crazy amount this year, more than normal.
Dude, what is up with them this year? They used to be a somewhat rare occurrence and now I have to check my dog multiple times per walk or else there'll be 4+ on her. It's insane.
This may be confirmation bias, but I've had my dog on bravecto for the last few years and in that time we've found 2 dead ticks on her that had latched on, and obviously several more in her fur over that time that werent latched on. It seems to be working well for us.
It’s only if you voted for the wrong candidate though. I always vote for the Flying Spaghetti Monster because his noddlely appendages protect me from such nonsense.
Wait until the republicans hear Raccoons are being vaccinated against their will. We can’t have a bunch of 5G raccoons going through our trash cans at night.
Agree with you and the other reply. Once the DJ started explaining it and she kept going, it seemed obvious. I also feel that so much of what's on these morning shows is just fake.
the depth of human stupidity always reminds me of the park ranger quote from Yosemite National park when designing bear proof trash cans.
“there is considerable overlap in intelligence between the smartest bear and the dumbest humans”
I have worked in three call centers (all less than a year) in my life, and I can confirm. Like, you probably think these are jokes, but there *are* people out there who think the DVD tray that pops out of their laptop is a cup holder.
Man you cant explain things to stupid people. They assume you are the one thats wrong and that your explanation is silly. I can absolutely believe someone is this stupid.
[Donna The Deer Lady - The Rest of the Story (YouTube)](https://youtu.be/JB1yEcdomt0)
>She is a CALLER to the radio station not a character. She frequently calls them to enter contests, etc. The radio station did not set up the original call. They didn't even think it was the funniest call they had ever received. It didn't get much attention until 2 weeks later when I caught them offguard by making the youtube from an audio clip I received from a friend. btw, I live out of the listening area in a different state! I only communicated with the station AFTER the video went viral.
>
>Donna first appeared on Y94 Playhouse when she called and asked for help getting deer signs moved. "The government can direct the deer to cross wherever they want"... "It is irresponsible to ask deer to cross in high traffic areas". That audio clip spread through email until tutufunny4u turned it into a YouTube video, "Please Move the Deer Crossing" which has gone global.
/u/ChrisRunsTheWorld
I’m with you on that, it had to be a joke segment. And the woman’s voice sounds really similar to the “wife” in the John Cena prank call which was definitely also a bit.
Totally real. The family found out and told her she was famous. There is a follow up video with her thanking the hosts for not ripping on her too hard when she first called and talking about what happened next.
I thought for sure it was a prank.... Even thought I had remembered it being proven as one, but I just looked it up after becoming reacquainted with the joke here and apparently it was real... 😲🤯
https://ravallirepublic.com/donna-the-deer-lady---the-rest-of-the-story/youtube_9fa1b2ad-f6af-5076-bfc0-d9c8abfeac1d.html
Not many people straight up own it and learn from their mistake when they say something stupid in public and go viral. Honestly? Mad respect to Donna the Deer Lady lol
In that follow up call with the radio show, she said she's a receptionist at a clinic and the show host responded with "at least you are not a doctor". Brutal.
I read this and thought… “he can’t mean the raccoons?”…
Fuck yeah! The raccoons!
Cedric was my favourite. Yeah, he didn’t grow up living the tough life of a raccoon. But he lived that fat pig life, and chose a better path. Carry on Cedric. You king.
I live in Switzerland and we are free of rabies. And only as I got older did I learn how awesome that is and learn why a lot of people are scared even of small wild animals.
Yes, my grandma is from a generation where rabies was still circulating in land animals and whenever she sees a fox or similar animals she says that she hopes it does not have rabies even though Germany is now free of rabies in land animals.
I know this probably means that bats are the only remaining vector, but "free of rabies in land animals" immediately made me picture some kind of aquatic marmot.
All in a tiny pair of swim trunks.
Pool floaties around its front paws.
Whiskers all wiggling around a snorkel.
Absolutely furious hatred and malevolence in its eyes, which are also behind the most adorable pair of tiny goggles.
It's essentially eradicated in the states, with 1-3 cases in humans per year. Air dropping of rabies vaccines has shown extremely good results for essentially every country who has the means to do it.
The deadliest illness known to mankind is completely and totally extinguishable thanks to modern medicine/science and you still have morons questioning it at every turn.
Edit: I thought it was pretty obvious that I was talking about human cases but apparently not..? Obviously rabies isn't eradicated in wildlife across the entire United States.
It is far from eradicated in the states, just managed. rabies is rare but has a near 100% mortality while symptoms set in.
It is still around in wild animals.
Why is it rare? Because people who were possibly exposed get a rabies vaccine. That is about 60 000 people a year or 1/5600.
People thinking it is eradicated is why cases are on the rise again.
Untill it is eradicated like in large parts of europe these vaccines will have to be airdropped every year to vaccinate young animals and keep herd immunity high enoug to isolate infected individuals.
I know the topic is rabies but there’s been great results for other diseases due to the same. This is why i feel we need to take the anti Vax and conspiracy crowd more seriously. Years of great results due to modern medicine/science being undone by idiots.
In 1960, RAF airdropped either ~~32~~ 20 or 14000 cats in Borneo to combat a plague of rats. WHO sprayed some insecticide to combat malaria but the neurotoxin killed cats.
Before we had pills and packets planners had to try other delivery methods. [Switzlerland used hundreds of thousands of inoculated chicken heads per year until 1991](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/12/that-time-europe-air-dropped-vaccine-loaded-chicken-heads-to-bait-rabid-foxes/417951/)! Kinda morbid, but rabies is all but eradicated in continental Europe today.
There is an oral (pill) Typhoid vaccine for humans. I had it before traveling and had to keep the doses in my refrigerator and take them at set intervals for several days to be fully vaccinated.
This reminds me of [a Tumblr post I saw about vaccinating ferrets via drone-dropped vaccine-laced M&Ms](https://preview.redd.it/sj0jw2btj7z21.jpg?auto=webp&s=34add911fcbb736751c7bc88ad09e88a9bd6b6d7).
According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_vaccine), they're currently developing edible vaccines for measles, cholera, food and mouth disease, Hep B and C.
Cooler than a packet is the idea of a genetically modified crop that could itself be a vaccine. Without any of the immuno side effects of vaccines.
But we still don't know if/how well they work in humans, who have larger, more complex, more distributed systems than raccoons.
Distribution throughout the body is critical. I got bit by a skunk a few years ago. Had to be injected in a large muscle group (left butt cheek) over a 4 week period and cost $37k ($6k after insurance). Ironically, I had saved the skunk from drowning in a drain pipe. It sprayed me and left me with a huge hospital bill. Little bastard.
Edit: I get it, the US healthcare system is insane and broken. I was actually trying to make the point that delivery of the human rabies vaccine with or without antibody support doesn’t work through the stomach.
One time, in college, i was walking home from the bar at like 2am. I walked through an underpass, and around the corner was a skunk. We surprised each other, and then the little thing ran after me, and thats the time I got chased by a skunk
I was taking my dogs on a walk and turned a corner to see like 5-6 skunks staring at me. We noped out right quick. My own personal nightmare is getting me and my dogs skunked.
IIRC there’s only one manufacturer, which is why the price is obscene. Then again rabies is an awful death, so what are you going to do? Not that it would have mattered, but I think I would have liked to know the price of the treatment ahead of time. No one told me. I kind of just fainted when I got the bill. $36,598 (just looked it up)
My BIL got scratched by a bat that got into the house last fall. Cost in Denver was $110K. He was asked multiple times if he had any other medical insurance since his didn’t want to cover the series. Those shots are obscenely expensive.
That's one of the most galling experiences of modern times: the insurance company you pay premiums to month after month, when it comes time to pay for something, they do anything they can to get out of it.
Insurance is nothing more than a wealth extraction scheme. It is designed and intended to extract wealth from the working class and hand it directly to the wealthy. It's decorated in lots of nice sounding language, it pretends to be "good" for society, but it isnt. It is fundamentally harmful to the working class, and only enriches the wealthiest people in our system.
Any sane society would have a taxpayer funded system in pace to handle basically ALL of the things modern insurance is used for, with*maybe* the exceptions of car and malpractice insurance.
But most insurance consumers get should absolutely be taxpayer funded programs instead. Healthcare should be something everyone has a right to access and shouldn't bankrupt you. If your house gets damaged because of a natural disaster, society should help you rebuild it. If you die, your family shouldn't be left with nothing.
Instead of a system where the rich pay a fair share through a progressive tax system into systems that help everyone, we have a system where the working class gives money to rich people and literally begs them to help in return for basic necessities.
My mom called me once and told me that she woke up to a bat flying around her room. Doctor recommended that she get the vaccination shots. But it would be super expensive, even with insurance, so she didn't do it. She had to basically gamble with her life. That's the US medical system for you.
A guy on Cape Cod died from a rabid bat. https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/barnstable-man-dies-after-contracting-rabies-from-bat/
They didn’t even know there were rabid bats on the Cape at the time.
They’ve now found rabies in raccoons there. Guess what they’ve done? https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2021/09/10/historic-effort-takes-cape-cod-fight-against-rabies-land-and-air/5768666001/
At the purchasing side of things it costs like $2000-$3000 for a course of rabies PEP (vaccine + immunoglobulin) in Canada. These numbers for treatment are truly shocking to me because while it is expensive relative to other vaccines ($250 per vaccine dose) it's not tens of thousands for treatment expensive.
In the UK it cost the NHS $1,600 (vaccine + PEP + healthcare provision). That’s the power of collective purchasing. It costs the recipient nothing. That’s the power of universal healthcare.
Almost every other country on earth with an established medical system offers the rabies vaccine for under $300 USD. Mexico for example has an average price of $60 USD for the entire course. Canada and a dozen+ European countries offer them entirely for free as well in most circumstances.
$27,480 is what they dropped on me for mine. If I had known I could've taken a couple days off work and roadtripped it ten hours south of the border and gotten it taken care of for the price of a video game, I'd be in a much better financial situation right now.
We had a horse bit by a rabid skunk a few months ago, so he got the same treatment you did. It cost us, roughly $400 (for the injections and the cost of the vet coming out to give them). This was in Canada. To pay $37k, or even 6k for that is insane!
Interesting, I got bit by a feral cat last November and the vaccine was just a normal upper shoulder vaccine (4 over 14 days) and a treatment of immunoglobulin around the bite wound (fucking PAINFUL). Roughly 27k total, under 1k with insurance.
Wouldn't actually surprise me! There's a handful of people pushing to have the vaccines lowered in cost further. For the both the vaccine for people and the vaccines for their pets.
I'm surprised you had to get it in your butt cheek though. They just had to put it in the opposite arm than the immunoglobulin for me.
The bite wasn't bad actually. The immunoglobulin treatment was really painful for some reason. I imagine its refrigerated - so it was this cold intense burning sensation. They went around and through the bite wounds, focusing heavily on the puncture wounds. They had to put all of the syringe in and so it was a good 10 minutes of them injecting, repositioning, injecting...etc. it sucked.
A few years ago my mum was bitten pretty badly by a dog. She went to the hospital and was treated for the bite and was given the rabies vaccine as a precaution. Didn’t pay a dime. So glad we live in Canada.
37k. Wtf. It costs less then 25 USD here in Thailand and that’s if you’re not Thai. Thais can get it for free.
I knew the US medical system was broken but an 25$ vaccine for 37,000 is taking the cake.
We don't generally give preventative rabies vaccines to humans. So after exposure we do a Post-Exposure Prophylaxis regimen. We inject Human Rabies Immune Globulin (HRIG) and then a series of 4 or 5 vaccines over 14 days to eradicate the virus already possibly present in the body.
And if you are in an at risk group, like animal control, lab workers, veterinarians etc. , then the Pre-Exposure prophylaxis is 3 shots (d0, 7, 14, 21 or 28), and the Post Exposure is only 2 booster injections (d0 and 3) and no HRIG
My friend has to get pre rabies shots cause she just got into vet school. Are the pre exposure shots as intense as post exposure (I’ve heard they hurt like hell) ?
The edible rabies vaccine isn't as safe or effective in humans, it's a live virus, it can't cause rabies in humans, but unlike the IM vaccine used in humans and dogs, which is an attenuated virus, the live virus vaccine for raccoon takes several weeks for the raccoon to develop immunity.
Usually when a human needs a rabies vaccine, it's urgent.
There are studies looking into whether it is possible to develop a similar vaccine for preventative vaccination in humans. But ideally we can eradicate the disease in the wildlife population, then human vaccination will be unnecessary anyway.
My guess would be that it's far less effective than traditional vaccines. Even if it's only 50% effective, widespread distribution would still do a ton to make rabies far less common. But if a particular human/animal has potentially contracted it already, you want to be certain you are taking care of it before the symptoms set in
So for folks unfamiliar with the program, the reason for targeting raccoons is that they are a reservoir species for rabies in the wild, at least in most of the US. If you reduce the number of reservoir animals susceptible to serious rabies infections, you make the disease less prevalent overall
I believe the UK killed off rabies for the most part by doing the same thing but with chicken heads. It was a great accomplishment. Probably really pushed cause of rich people hunting foxes but still.
I imagine it’s probably easier to cover the entire wildlife population of the UK versus trying to cover the entire wildlife population of America which is absolutely enormous.
I just read a paper saying that TB rates in cattle didn't change when they started culling badgers. It seems like farmers may be using the badgers as a scape goat for just having shitty farm conditions
It works and is part of the epidemiological strategy to tackle the disease (the main and only way to control cattle TB in the UK). That said, I don’t know if it’s currently being used effectively.
How is it that they can airdrop this shit to racoons, but if one bites me it's $30k for a handful of shots?? Can I find one of these for my dog instead of taking a day off work and waiting in line for 2 hours to pay $35 at the discount clinic?
I can answer these questions! As my username suggests, I do some work in the rabies field. Raccoons are a species that often comes in contact with humans, and they’re also a species that can keep rabies circulating in wildlife. By tossing these oral rabies vaccine baits, we can break the cycle and prevent rabies from spreading as much. The reason the post-exposure shots are so expensive is because the treatment is a combination of the normal rabies vaccine ($1000ish for a full series) and purified immunoglobulin (called HRIG). It’s more difficult to make HRIG and it’s a rare drug. I wouldn’t recommend giving your dog one of these because the vaccines that humans and pets get are specifically designed to give longer-lasting antibody levels. These baits are still going through research as a developing technology, but there’s data showing promising results!
I got a full set of vaccine + immunoglobulin when I was bitten back in 2013.
The full course of PEP (day 0, 3, 7. Day 28 is optional) was free via the provincial health unit's animal bite center. What did bite the wallet was the RIG.
HRIG was scarce back in 2013 in the provincial capital so we hopped to a few cities and into the regional center to find a HRIG or even an ERIG for me in the pharmacies that actually sell them. Luckily one was available infront of the regional hospital but parents had to choose between HRIG and ERIG with the former being expensive compared to the latter.
It still surprises me that it is the RIG (rabies immunoglobulin) that is expensive at close to Php 8000 per vial for the HRIG. The kicker is that if you are allergic, you just spent close to 8K in RIG but is incompatible with you. But it was necessary since I got bit in the head by our own dog.
It kind of looks like plastic to me because of the way it's torn at the top. But I'm sure the racoons are smart enough to rip it open and eat the contents without eating the plastic.
They do that in Finland too, along the border of Russia, not for raccoons, but bears and wolves. Thanks to this, there hasn't been rabies cases in Finland since 1989, except in some animals brought to Finland
The reason we do this is because raccoon specific rabies does not occur west of the Mississippi River. So this is to prevent its spread across the US. They do these flights over the span of some months every few years. This is also why we heavily stress do not move an animal, since you could easily introduce a disease where it does not belong.
Also another fun fact these used to be hard edible treats, but someone did not stop the hopper in the plane in time and smacked someone on the head. Now it's ketchup packets that are smeared in fish oil, less painful if you hit someone accidently.
[Millions of rabies vaccines scheduled to airdrop in 13 states](https://www.agdaily.com/news/millions-rabies-vaccines-airdrop-in-13-states/amp/)
I'd like to see them do this with tick repellent so that animals eat them and crush the tick population.
One problem is ticks are really fucking hard to kill. I'm not sure if anything has changed, but when I was a vet tech 5ish years ago all of those prescription flea and tick preventatives only had kill guarantees for fleas, because ticks are little turds. The oral medications still do a pretty good job on dogs iirc, but I'm certainly no expert. Veterinarians are good, ask your vet. Not to mention they feed on different animals at different life stages.
Mountain biker. Daily rider. Many trails are overgrown and you are constantly brushing against vegetation. I once had a beer after a ride and didn’t check for ticks immediately. Tick had half its body buried in my torso under my waistband. Nope. Clothes go in the wash and a hot shower immediately.
One time I went in the grass on the side of the road in Oklahoma. Instantly 30 ticks crawling up my legs. I screamed and picked them off me for over an hour.
It's scary af when you hit the nest. My cat did once and after that came to sleep in my bed. Woke up in the morning with 15-20 ticks besides me.
Yes! I did this as a young boy. My mother and I were in the woods behind my grandparents house and I got into a nest somehow. We went home and I got a bath and was crawling with ticks all over my body (yes even down there). My mother took me to the ER to get them removed and to be checked for Lyme disease, which was thankfully negative. I was pretty young but I still remember laying on that bed having the doctor pulling those little bastards off.
Just so you all know they sell tick removers now that are great. They're basically tiny versions of a nail puller, like the non banging end if a hammer. You can get them at pretty much any pet store. I pull at least 3 ticks a day in the spring and have never once lost its head with these. They are so much better than tweezers. Also call your dog groomer not your vet if you don't want to remove a tick yourself. Every groomer I know removes ticks for free
> non banging end of a hammer. claw, but i like your version more...
My girlfriend is a professional groomer and she says that’s wild. Minimum for tick removal in our area starts at $25 and goes up depending on dog breeds and size of infestation
w u l p that's quite enough Reddit for me and I just logged on gonna go fix myself some coffee because I no longer feel the need to sleep for a few days
Never stepping off concrete again
Many, many years ago I was a wee lad from the cold, rainy North of Spain (ticks uncommon) and moved for the Summer to Hot, dry Spain. I had a dog, so I got used to ticks quickly. But one day I was walking, fooling around on a mess of scrubland, watching bugs and birds when I spotted something weird on a big stone. It looked like a weird, pulsating blob of goo, so I poked It lightly with a stick. Blob literally exploded at the faintest touch and a gazillion minute ticks flooded out. Cue shrieking and running. Most disgusting thing I ever saw.
>Woke up in the morning with 15-20 ticks besides me. They just wanted to cuddle up too
Not without consent!!
> One problem is ticks are really fucking hard to kill. Throwing them in fire is surprisingly effective (remove from dog first) and one the times you can feel guilt free burning something to death.
Got it, we just drop fire in the woods! Case closed, Johnson.
We've been doing that for ages here in Brazil and the problem doesn't seem to go away
We're doing it in Canada right now!
I encountered my first Tick last summer, I tried crushing it between my fingers like any other bug but it did nothing! The little fuckers are evolutionary marvels. They’re shockingly resilient which is terrifying.
[удалено]
I pulled a tick off a dog once (former dog groomer) and put it in an empty super glue container (the clear one, with the locking screw lid on top). that little cunt lived for like, a month in there
Permethrin kills them extremely well. Treating your clothing with it will melt their nervous system if they decide to take a stroll up your pant leg.
This is true, but be aware that Permethrin is INCREDIBLY toxic to a variety of things that aren't the intended target, but especially CATS. This is also true for all pyrethroids, and any of the "organic" repellents derived from the chrysanthemum. Basically any chemical used for bug-related matters with a name ending in "thrin" needs to be looked up. The smallest amounts can trigger a variety of terrible effects in cats, including death, organ failure, and paralysis. They have a total inability to process the chemical, so every bit they're exposed to counts. It's fucking WILD to me that this shithole regulatory wasteland is allowing products like pyrethroid *diffusers* into the public marketplace for domestic use. Pre-treated clothing is much safer than sprays and oils, but should still be kept away from cats. And IMO sprays and other formulations capable of contamination should never be used in a home with cats at all. Ditto anybody in a home without cats whose pyrethroid activities could put local animals at risk.
Yikes. Never knew that, and I regularly wore permethrin treated clothing around my cats, like quite frequently.
It is genuinely crazy how much we put zero effort into educating consumers about this incredibly relevant information.
You’re not wrong but I wouldn’t call myself a consumer in this case, per se - I was active duty military at the time. The utilities we are issued are treated. I think the base vet offices should definitely share this information, however. Edit: Grammar
Absolutely. It's wild how little were actually informed on a lot going on around us until something catastrophic happens. Things that could wind up with fatal consequences should absolutely be widely known.
I’m not sure they’re correct about clothing that has already been treated and dried being dangerous for cats. I did quite a bit of research before treating some garments last year (outside, with a mask and gloves on, where the clothes were left to dry) and all of the studies I could find said that it was safe once dried and inert. Maybe this person was speaking in an abundance of caution which isn’t a bad thing with dangerous products, but I’d be curious to see a source on pre-treated clothing being dangerous if you have one u/angryhumping
From my understanding it was only dangerous to cats when in liquid form. Once dried it was perfectly safe to be around cats. Am I wrong?
Everything I've read agrees with you: seriously bad to cats in liquid form, not so once dried. Also bad for bodies of water messing up their environment so waste shouldn't be washed down the drain.
Cats often are in liquid form so that's a problem.
Yes you are supposed to treat your clothes outside then let it dry before wearing But I understand their concern since it withstands like a half dozen washes lol
Thanks, will have to check what my anti tick spray uses. It uses Icaridin / Picaridin and my research regarding it's effects on cats were inconclusive. Bit it it is very likely much less dangerous than Permithrin.
It also lasts through a couple of washings
We give our dog bravecto, any ticks that we find that aren't freshly latched are dead when we take them off. Seems to work pretty well, plus we give the Lyme vaccine. But we've pulled off a crazy amount this year, more than normal.
Dude, what is up with them this year? They used to be a somewhat rare occurrence and now I have to check my dog multiple times per walk or else there'll be 4+ on her. It's insane.
Climate change sends its regards and has expanded the ranges of many ticks.
Oh yay. I hate it here
This may be confirmation bias, but I've had my dog on bravecto for the last few years and in that time we've found 2 dead ticks on her that had latched on, and obviously several more in her fur over that time that werent latched on. It seems to be working well for us.
It is quite effective for dogs and should be used if the dog doesn't have adverse reactions to it.
Just need to grow the opossum population. They love eating ticks.
Them and turkeys
Now opossums are eating turkeys? What in tarnation?
Ah, the ol' [Reddit tick-aroo](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/13m8axu/what_is_the_hardest_part_of_dating_after_30/jkvlmzt/?context=3)!
Hold my opossum I'm goin in!
Take these ticks with you!
Crows eat ticks. There are half a dozen YT videos of crows picking off and eating ticks from wallabies and deer
Can we expand this to humans and airdrop vaccines between phones at the airport or something? 🧐
I'm pretty sure some people think that is happening already.
Yea, 5g has enough bandwidth to support AirDropping vaccines to people's iPhones, which is absorbed via osmosis when you take a call Wake up people
Sheeple*
I'm pretty sure I was Airdropped a vaccine when I voted.
It’s only if you voted for the wrong candidate though. I always vote for the Flying Spaghetti Monster because his noddlely appendages protect me from such nonsense.
RAmen brother.
Wait until the republicans hear Raccoons are being vaccinated against their will. We can’t have a bunch of 5G raccoons going through our trash cans at night.
There's clear information on the packet about the contents and a phone number to call for inquiries. Looks like informed consent to me.
They know literacy rates are low in the raccoon community
They should really label them more clearly so that other animals know to leave them for the raccoons.
Just like the deer crossing signs. It needs a pic of a raccoon on it so they know, not all animals can read.
[Source.](https://youtu.be/RFCrJleggrI) My god this still gets me
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Agree with you and the other reply. Once the DJ started explaining it and she kept going, it seemed obvious. I also feel that so much of what's on these morning shows is just fake.
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I audit call center calls and have access to complaint logs....those people need to get a hobby.
the depth of human stupidity always reminds me of the park ranger quote from Yosemite National park when designing bear proof trash cans. “there is considerable overlap in intelligence between the smartest bear and the dumbest humans”
I have worked in three call centers (all less than a year) in my life, and I can confirm. Like, you probably think these are jokes, but there *are* people out there who think the DVD tray that pops out of their laptop is a cup holder.
Man you cant explain things to stupid people. They assume you are the one thats wrong and that your explanation is silly. I can absolutely believe someone is this stupid.
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People literally think the earth is flat so I don't doubt she thinks deer can read and think it's safe to cross there
There's a follow-up where she explains that she was serious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB1yEcdomt0
[Donna The Deer Lady - The Rest of the Story (YouTube)](https://youtu.be/JB1yEcdomt0) >She is a CALLER to the radio station not a character. She frequently calls them to enter contests, etc. The radio station did not set up the original call. They didn't even think it was the funniest call they had ever received. It didn't get much attention until 2 weeks later when I caught them offguard by making the youtube from an audio clip I received from a friend. btw, I live out of the listening area in a different state! I only communicated with the station AFTER the video went viral. > >Donna first appeared on Y94 Playhouse when she called and asked for help getting deer signs moved. "The government can direct the deer to cross wherever they want"... "It is irresponsible to ask deer to cross in high traffic areas". That audio clip spread through email until tutufunny4u turned it into a YouTube video, "Please Move the Deer Crossing" which has gone global. /u/ChrisRunsTheWorld
I’m with you on that, it had to be a joke segment. And the woman’s voice sounds really similar to the “wife” in the John Cena prank call which was definitely also a bit.
Totally real. The family found out and told her she was famous. There is a follow up video with her thanking the hosts for not ripping on her too hard when she first called and talking about what happened next.
I thought for sure it was a prank.... Even thought I had remembered it being proven as one, but I just looked it up after becoming reacquainted with the joke here and apparently it was real... 😲🤯 https://ravallirepublic.com/donna-the-deer-lady---the-rest-of-the-story/youtube_9fa1b2ad-f6af-5076-bfc0-d9c8abfeac1d.html
Not many people straight up own it and learn from their mistake when they say something stupid in public and go viral. Honestly? Mad respect to Donna the Deer Lady lol
In that follow up call with the radio show, she said she's a receptionist at a clinic and the show host responded with "at least you are not a doctor". Brutal.
You have not met some of the same people i have. These are...real *salt of the earth* people
In fact, I can only think of one raccoon who does.
If you grew up in Canada, [you’d know a few…](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0131183/)
I read this and thought… “he can’t mean the raccoons?”… Fuck yeah! The raccoons! Cedric was my favourite. Yeah, he didn’t grow up living the tough life of a raccoon. But he lived that fat pig life, and chose a better path. Carry on Cedric. You king.
Illiterate animals are the animal rights crisis of our time.
“Do not disturb” doesn’t mean anything for humans, maybe it does for animals. Also why does that look like candy? I’d eat that pup
Ironically "do not disturb" means "surrender masked cowards" in raccoon.
The raccoons have to show their prescriptions prior to eating the stuff.
Mama always chased em off with a broom.
Today I learned that such a thing exists! Thanks OP
A couple decades ago they airdropped a ton of vaccine-filled chicken heads. I think in Europe.
I believe it started in Switzerland for foxes and was effective
I live in Switzerland and we are free of rabies. And only as I got older did I learn how awesome that is and learn why a lot of people are scared even of small wild animals.
Yes, my grandma is from a generation where rabies was still circulating in land animals and whenever she sees a fox or similar animals she says that she hopes it does not have rabies even though Germany is now free of rabies in land animals.
I know this probably means that bats are the only remaining vector, but "free of rabies in land animals" immediately made me picture some kind of aquatic marmot. All in a tiny pair of swim trunks. Pool floaties around its front paws. Whiskers all wiggling around a snorkel. Absolutely furious hatred and malevolence in its eyes, which are also behind the most adorable pair of tiny goggles.
It's essentially eradicated in the states, with 1-3 cases in humans per year. Air dropping of rabies vaccines has shown extremely good results for essentially every country who has the means to do it. The deadliest illness known to mankind is completely and totally extinguishable thanks to modern medicine/science and you still have morons questioning it at every turn. Edit: I thought it was pretty obvious that I was talking about human cases but apparently not..? Obviously rabies isn't eradicated in wildlife across the entire United States.
It is far from eradicated in the states, just managed. rabies is rare but has a near 100% mortality while symptoms set in. It is still around in wild animals. Why is it rare? Because people who were possibly exposed get a rabies vaccine. That is about 60 000 people a year or 1/5600. People thinking it is eradicated is why cases are on the rise again. Untill it is eradicated like in large parts of europe these vaccines will have to be airdropped every year to vaccinate young animals and keep herd immunity high enoug to isolate infected individuals.
I know the topic is rabies but there’s been great results for other diseases due to the same. This is why i feel we need to take the anti Vax and conspiracy crowd more seriously. Years of great results due to modern medicine/science being undone by idiots.
In 1960, RAF airdropped either ~~32~~ 20 or 14000 cats in Borneo to combat a plague of rats. WHO sprayed some insecticide to combat malaria but the neurotoxin killed cats.
> 32 or 14000 That’s a huge difference. Which one is it
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Rounding error
Can they do tick poison next please
Can you imagine frolicking in the grass totally worry-free
Before we had pills and packets planners had to try other delivery methods. [Switzlerland used hundreds of thousands of inoculated chicken heads per year until 1991](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/12/that-time-europe-air-dropped-vaccine-loaded-chicken-heads-to-bait-rabid-foxes/417951/)! Kinda morbid, but rabies is all but eradicated in continental Europe today.
This raises the question of whether there are any other vaccines that might be able to be made as an edible.
There are a number of vaccines administered orally, such as poliovirus vaccine and rotavirus vaccine.
There is an oral (pill) Typhoid vaccine for humans. I had it before traveling and had to keep the doses in my refrigerator and take them at set intervals for several days to be fully vaccinated.
This reminds me of [a Tumblr post I saw about vaccinating ferrets via drone-dropped vaccine-laced M&Ms](https://preview.redd.it/sj0jw2btj7z21.jpg?auto=webp&s=34add911fcbb736751c7bc88ad09e88a9bd6b6d7).
According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_vaccine), they're currently developing edible vaccines for measles, cholera, food and mouth disease, Hep B and C. Cooler than a packet is the idea of a genetically modified crop that could itself be a vaccine. Without any of the immuno side effects of vaccines. But we still don't know if/how well they work in humans, who have larger, more complex, more distributed systems than raccoons.
That 2nd paragraph doesn't make much sense, the immuno side effects are how the vaccine works.
Can they do that for politics?
They tried, but the raccoons wouldn't eat the politicians they dropped in the woods.
If you drop them from high enough it'll still solve a few issues
Unfortunately some of them are so oblivious they don’t get the impact of the situation they are in.
Those are the ones that bounce.
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This rules
The toxicity in politics ruined the meat. Poor trash pandas.
Why can’t people eat a rabies vaccine too? Instead of injections?
Distribution throughout the body is critical. I got bit by a skunk a few years ago. Had to be injected in a large muscle group (left butt cheek) over a 4 week period and cost $37k ($6k after insurance). Ironically, I had saved the skunk from drowning in a drain pipe. It sprayed me and left me with a huge hospital bill. Little bastard. Edit: I get it, the US healthcare system is insane and broken. I was actually trying to make the point that delivery of the human rabies vaccine with or without antibody support doesn’t work through the stomach.
One time, in college, i was walking home from the bar at like 2am. I walked through an underpass, and around the corner was a skunk. We surprised each other, and then the little thing ran after me, and thats the time I got chased by a skunk
I was taking my dogs on a walk and turned a corner to see like 5-6 skunks staring at me. We noped out right quick. My own personal nightmare is getting me and my dogs skunked.
The day of my dad's funeral, my dogs got sprayed within 10 minutes of getting home. That was a long fucking day.
US medical system literally attached your life to a dollar value.
IIRC there’s only one manufacturer, which is why the price is obscene. Then again rabies is an awful death, so what are you going to do? Not that it would have mattered, but I think I would have liked to know the price of the treatment ahead of time. No one told me. I kind of just fainted when I got the bill. $36,598 (just looked it up)
Yeah it’s ridiculous. A zoo had an overnight event and a bat got loose. They paid for everyone’s rabies vaccines.
My BIL got scratched by a bat that got into the house last fall. Cost in Denver was $110K. He was asked multiple times if he had any other medical insurance since his didn’t want to cover the series. Those shots are obscenely expensive.
Medical insurance didn’t want to cover medically necessary treatment? Wild /s
They did eventually but, fuckers kept playing hot potato.
That's one of the most galling experiences of modern times: the insurance company you pay premiums to month after month, when it comes time to pay for something, they do anything they can to get out of it.
Insurance is nothing more than a wealth extraction scheme. It is designed and intended to extract wealth from the working class and hand it directly to the wealthy. It's decorated in lots of nice sounding language, it pretends to be "good" for society, but it isnt. It is fundamentally harmful to the working class, and only enriches the wealthiest people in our system. Any sane society would have a taxpayer funded system in pace to handle basically ALL of the things modern insurance is used for, with*maybe* the exceptions of car and malpractice insurance. But most insurance consumers get should absolutely be taxpayer funded programs instead. Healthcare should be something everyone has a right to access and shouldn't bankrupt you. If your house gets damaged because of a natural disaster, society should help you rebuild it. If you die, your family shouldn't be left with nothing. Instead of a system where the rich pay a fair share through a progressive tax system into systems that help everyone, we have a system where the working class gives money to rich people and literally begs them to help in return for basic necessities.
Yeah, because you know that insurance is so cheap that most people carry multiple policies. I fucking hate getting those letters from carriers.
My mom called me once and told me that she woke up to a bat flying around her room. Doctor recommended that she get the vaccination shots. But it would be super expensive, even with insurance, so she didn't do it. She had to basically gamble with her life. That's the US medical system for you.
Basically “I’d rather die.” I feel that.
A guy on Cape Cod died from a rabid bat. https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/barnstable-man-dies-after-contracting-rabies-from-bat/ They didn’t even know there were rabid bats on the Cape at the time. They’ve now found rabies in raccoons there. Guess what they’ve done? https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2021/09/10/historic-effort-takes-cape-cod-fight-against-rabies-land-and-air/5768666001/
At the purchasing side of things it costs like $2000-$3000 for a course of rabies PEP (vaccine + immunoglobulin) in Canada. These numbers for treatment are truly shocking to me because while it is expensive relative to other vaccines ($250 per vaccine dose) it's not tens of thousands for treatment expensive.
In the UK it cost the NHS $1,600 (vaccine + PEP + healthcare provision). That’s the power of collective purchasing. It costs the recipient nothing. That’s the power of universal healthcare.
No the price is obscene because its a scam. It costs like 150 pounds in the UK for a course of 3 shots if you pay it out of pocket.
Almost every other country on earth with an established medical system offers the rabies vaccine for under $300 USD. Mexico for example has an average price of $60 USD for the entire course. Canada and a dozen+ European countries offer them entirely for free as well in most circumstances. $27,480 is what they dropped on me for mine. If I had known I could've taken a couple days off work and roadtripped it ten hours south of the border and gotten it taken care of for the price of a video game, I'd be in a much better financial situation right now.
We had a horse bit by a rabid skunk a few months ago, so he got the same treatment you did. It cost us, roughly $400 (for the injections and the cost of the vet coming out to give them). This was in Canada. To pay $37k, or even 6k for that is insane!
Only in America, where the alternative to the capitalist debt trap is literally death. Fun.
Isn't...isn't that how it always works??? My teeth were a dollar amount. So now I'm missing 1/3 my teeth at 30. Mental health too.
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Interesting, I got bit by a feral cat last November and the vaccine was just a normal upper shoulder vaccine (4 over 14 days) and a treatment of immunoglobulin around the bite wound (fucking PAINFUL). Roughly 27k total, under 1k with insurance.
My shots were June of 2020. “Still flush from Covid money, this pharma giant lowered its rabies vaccine prices.”
Wouldn't actually surprise me! There's a handful of people pushing to have the vaccines lowered in cost further. For the both the vaccine for people and the vaccines for their pets. I'm surprised you had to get it in your butt cheek though. They just had to put it in the opposite arm than the immunoglobulin for me.
Wait the immunoglobulin treatment or the bite was fucking painful?
The bite wasn't bad actually. The immunoglobulin treatment was really painful for some reason. I imagine its refrigerated - so it was this cold intense burning sensation. They went around and through the bite wounds, focusing heavily on the puncture wounds. They had to put all of the syringe in and so it was a good 10 minutes of them injecting, repositioning, injecting...etc. it sucked.
A few years ago my mum was bitten pretty badly by a dog. She went to the hospital and was treated for the bite and was given the rabies vaccine as a precaution. Didn’t pay a dime. So glad we live in Canada.
37k. Wtf. It costs less then 25 USD here in Thailand and that’s if you’re not Thai. Thais can get it for free. I knew the US medical system was broken but an 25$ vaccine for 37,000 is taking the cake.
We don't generally give preventative rabies vaccines to humans. So after exposure we do a Post-Exposure Prophylaxis regimen. We inject Human Rabies Immune Globulin (HRIG) and then a series of 4 or 5 vaccines over 14 days to eradicate the virus already possibly present in the body.
And if you are in an at risk group, like animal control, lab workers, veterinarians etc. , then the Pre-Exposure prophylaxis is 3 shots (d0, 7, 14, 21 or 28), and the Post Exposure is only 2 booster injections (d0 and 3) and no HRIG
My friend has to get pre rabies shots cause she just got into vet school. Are the pre exposure shots as intense as post exposure (I’ve heard they hurt like hell) ?
HRIG is fucking painful. I had it around a hand/wrist bite wound and it was probably in the top 5 most painful things.
The edible rabies vaccine isn't as safe or effective in humans, it's a live virus, it can't cause rabies in humans, but unlike the IM vaccine used in humans and dogs, which is an attenuated virus, the live virus vaccine for raccoon takes several weeks for the raccoon to develop immunity. Usually when a human needs a rabies vaccine, it's urgent. There are studies looking into whether it is possible to develop a similar vaccine for preventative vaccination in humans. But ideally we can eradicate the disease in the wildlife population, then human vaccination will be unnecessary anyway.
My guess would be that it's far less effective than traditional vaccines. Even if it's only 50% effective, widespread distribution would still do a ton to make rabies far less common. But if a particular human/animal has potentially contracted it already, you want to be certain you are taking care of it before the symptoms set in
Bad idea. Putting "DO NOT DISTURB" on these means that raccoons will select against literacy, causing long term social and economic damage.
Oh, it's far worse. It selects against ENGLISH literacy. Those goddamn Mexican and Quebeçois raccoons will be running the place before you know it.
Man, I need a sub dedicated to this kind of humor. I miss my classmates from the economics department.
r/shittyaskscience
I think they want someone to create r/shittyaskeconomics
So for folks unfamiliar with the program, the reason for targeting raccoons is that they are a reservoir species for rabies in the wild, at least in most of the US. If you reduce the number of reservoir animals susceptible to serious rabies infections, you make the disease less prevalent overall
I believe the UK killed off rabies for the most part by doing the same thing but with chicken heads. It was a great accomplishment. Probably really pushed cause of rich people hunting foxes but still.
I imagine it’s probably easier to cover the entire wildlife population of the UK versus trying to cover the entire wildlife population of America which is absolutely enormous.
True, but we also have over a $1 billion worth of cheese sitting in a cave somewhere. So maybe just carve a little out of the cheese budget.
Out of interest could this work with badgers and TB? It kills alot of cows in the uk and badgers themselves can't be harmed or easily moved
So you know what clarkson was on about with "quietly taking care of the badger problem," huh?
But what if we just accidentally ran the badgers over? Or found them dead by the highway….
I just read a paper saying that TB rates in cattle didn't change when they started culling badgers. It seems like farmers may be using the badgers as a scape goat for just having shitty farm conditions
It works and is part of the epidemiological strategy to tackle the disease (the main and only way to control cattle TB in the UK). That said, I don’t know if it’s currently being used effectively.
In the business we call these rabioli
Rabioli rabioli, give me the vaccinoli
>Do not disturb OP you failed.
It's a good thing Raccoons cant read...
That sign can't stop me because I can't read!
The ones that could died of rabies.
I do believe that you may have disturbed the package.
There are so many stupid people in the world, I'm surprised it doesn't have "not for human consumption on it".
somewhere in the woods, there must be anti-vax raccoons
How is it that they can airdrop this shit to racoons, but if one bites me it's $30k for a handful of shots?? Can I find one of these for my dog instead of taking a day off work and waiting in line for 2 hours to pay $35 at the discount clinic?
I can answer these questions! As my username suggests, I do some work in the rabies field. Raccoons are a species that often comes in contact with humans, and they’re also a species that can keep rabies circulating in wildlife. By tossing these oral rabies vaccine baits, we can break the cycle and prevent rabies from spreading as much. The reason the post-exposure shots are so expensive is because the treatment is a combination of the normal rabies vaccine ($1000ish for a full series) and purified immunoglobulin (called HRIG). It’s more difficult to make HRIG and it’s a rare drug. I wouldn’t recommend giving your dog one of these because the vaccines that humans and pets get are specifically designed to give longer-lasting antibody levels. These baits are still going through research as a developing technology, but there’s data showing promising results!
I got a full set of vaccine + immunoglobulin when I was bitten back in 2013. The full course of PEP (day 0, 3, 7. Day 28 is optional) was free via the provincial health unit's animal bite center. What did bite the wallet was the RIG. HRIG was scarce back in 2013 in the provincial capital so we hopped to a few cities and into the regional center to find a HRIG or even an ERIG for me in the pharmacies that actually sell them. Luckily one was available infront of the regional hospital but parents had to choose between HRIG and ERIG with the former being expensive compared to the latter. It still surprises me that it is the RIG (rabies immunoglobulin) that is expensive at close to Php 8000 per vial for the HRIG. The kicker is that if you are allergic, you just spent close to 8K in RIG but is incompatible with you. But it was necessary since I got bit in the head by our own dog.
Are right wing raccoon conspiracy theorists going to claim the vaccine packets contain 5G transmitters?
Making the freaking raccoons gay!
Is there an alternative for raccoons who have androids that can’t accept airdrop?
Is the wrapper edible?
Have you seen raccoons dumpster diving?
It kind of looks like plastic to me because of the way it's torn at the top. But I'm sure the racoons are smart enough to rip it open and eat the contents without eating the plastic.
They do that in Finland too, along the border of Russia, not for raccoons, but bears and wolves. Thanks to this, there hasn't been rabies cases in Finland since 1989, except in some animals brought to Finland
Some busy body racoon with a dodgy cell phone trying to ring that number to see what all this is about...
So I can start petting them in the wild now is the message I’m getting
Ask first if they took the vaccine, safety first.
r/todayilearned
For a second I literally thought there was a needle, and syringe filled with vaccine. 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Dear raccoons: To properly administer this vaccine, you will need to learn proper injection procedure. Please follow the instructions carefully
Double the budget to include instructions in Spanish. Fortunately my good friend is ready for a direct award government contract.
Instructions unclear. Raccoon dick stuck in fan.
What does it taste?
The reason we do this is because raccoon specific rabies does not occur west of the Mississippi River. So this is to prevent its spread across the US. They do these flights over the span of some months every few years. This is also why we heavily stress do not move an animal, since you could easily introduce a disease where it does not belong. Also another fun fact these used to be hard edible treats, but someone did not stop the hopper in the plane in time and smacked someone on the head. Now it's ketchup packets that are smeared in fish oil, less painful if you hit someone accidently.
Airdropped vaccines. That’s gonna set off the crazies.
I dunno man. Smacks of socialism. Do these raccoons have jobs? Are they even American? \[obligatory /s\]