Just had a raccoon follow me...

[skypilot]

...for about 50 feet. Came out of my apartment building and there was a raccoon on the fountain in front of my building. There are goldfish in there. I walk by and the raccoon gloms on to me, hops down from the fountain and starts following me out into the parking lot. I lost sight of it in the shadows cast by some trees. I ran into one of my neighbors who was heading back to our building and warned him.
I have encountered raccoons in my day but I don't know how a rabid one behaves. Could this one have been rabid? Could it have been following me to attack?

[magicarpet]

1. Only way to know for sure about rabies is to get a blood sample

Best to be alert and maintain a health distance. If it just got rabies and not rampant yet the symptoms might be mild to negligible.

[skypilot]

5. Thanks.

I think I'll put signs up in my building to warn the other tenants to be alert. The raccoon might return now that it knows about the fish in the fountain.

[magicarpet]

12. Yes,.. good idea. Then they can be aware too,..

... keep any eye out for a raccoon who my be infected with rabies. Keep your distance. Mention the fountain area is where spotted. Use caution.

[Orrex]

2. Was it this one?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10025255000

[Kali]

8. memories

[Orrex]

11. lol

Sometimes I find myself wondering where Walt Starr wound up.

[bullimiami]

3. If people feed them they can get very comfortable around people and pushy.

[skypilot]

7. I was wondering...

...if this one was following me because of something like that. It wasn't hissing or anything (or whatever a rabid/aggressive raccoon does) but I didn't want it getting too close.

[amerikat]

4. We had rabid one about a year ago.

It was like it was drunk. Stumbling around out in the daylight. Had to shoot it.

[Easterncedar]

6. Yes. A raccoon acting strangely may be rabid

Distemper can also make them seem unafraid and cause them to approach human beings, according to the animal control officer I called after one tried to climb into my car over my mother. He knew the individual animal. That was in western New York where rabies is, or was then, not very common.

But rabies is very common among raccoons in my town in Maine, and several people have been attacked in recent years. They may seem just tame and then get very suddenly aggressive. Be very wary.

(Edited above to clarify: rabies was NOT common in Western New York then, otherwise any contact with a raccoon acting oddly might have required rabies shots for the person touched.)

[skypilot]

9. Thank you.

*

[womanofthehills]

10. I had a raccoon come in my doggie door

In the middle of the night. He was actually climbing the stairs to my bedroom. My old dog started barking & when the raccoon saw me, the raccoon ran down the stairs and
he jumped on the kitchen counter - I opened the door and he ran over my cat and my dog ran after him.

He would never get that far into my house with my 2 young half husky dogs.

[Bayard]

13. Expect a raccoon to be mean

Although yours doesn't sound rabid. They're always looking for food, and very opportunistic. We've lost chickens, and a whole herd of baby ducks to them. We also find empty turtle shells where the raccoon has pulled the turtle out. I've also seen them carrying off kittens at one barn I was at. We trap them, and then take them very far away. They will tear a dog, (or human) up.

Contact your local Animal Control.

[skypilot]

14. Thank you.

*

[Phoenix61]

15. My guess is people around you are feeding them and

they were looking for an easy meal.

[niyad]

16. The raccoons in my old neighborhood were habituated to people,

and some of them were brats. Before I was able to persuade my little rescue kitty into the house, I would often feed him on the front porch, which had a high, wide ledge. At the end of the porch is a large old tree. Sometimes when I was feeding the cat, one ir more of the raccoons would be perched in the tree, watching. When kitty was done eating, he would sometimes walk that direction to jump off the porch. The raccoon would walk past him, their fur brushing, headed for the food dish. He would glance at me as I was sitting on the porch swing with my drink, and finish whatever was left in the dish, and then walk back to the tree, basically ignoring me after another bruef glance. One of the raccoons and a young skunk were buddies who often strolled the neighborhood together.

One time, as I was making my final check before closing up for the night, I heard idd sounds in the storage space. At first, I was not quite sure what I was hearing, then I saw a pair of eyes about six or eight inches from the ground watching me. I suggested that ut keace. Instead, a second pair of eyes appeared above the first, and then a third. There was just enough light for me to realize that it was a trio of young raccoons. I kept inviting them to leave. And, just like the little brats they were, I got a very clear mental
image of them flipping me off.

From the usual numbers of deer, raccoons, fox, skunks. rabbits, and the occasional bear in our neighborhood, one would think we were rural, instead of having not only the residents, but all the damned tourists as well. And nobody bothered them, and they did not bother us.

[Emile]

17. Probably wanted you to feed it.