A Deer Isle man shot and eventually killed a rabid skunk that chased him through his yard last week.
The incident, in which the man had to shoot the raccoon multiple times before he killed it, is the latest in a series of rabid animal encounters in Deer Isle that include two people being bitten by raccoons in October.
Larry Moffet was working the day before Thanksgiving in his garden on his property just off Center District Road when he saw the skunk running at him out of the corner of his eye. He’d seen this skunk many times over the past few years and it never bothered him, but this time it didn’t look healthy and was coming at him “in a sort of frenzy.”
The animal chased Moffet as he ran to his house. Moffet said the skunk ran back and forth in front of the door while he was inside. He grabbed a 20-gauge shotgun, stepped out his front door and fired at the animal, hitting it twice.
Much to his surprise, it appeared to do nothing. He’d used relatively light ammunition designed for bird hunting, and his shots only seemed to make the animal angrier.
“It was like super skunk. This thing had super powers. It didn’t want to stop,” Moffet said.
After his first few shots, Moffet was out of ammunition. With the skunk still close behind, Moffet ran to an outbuilding and grabbed a more powerful 12-gauge shotgun. He fired two more shots, finally killing the animal.
Rabies is a viral infection that usually spreads through the bite of an animal. The disease is endemic among Maine’s wild animals, meaning it is ever present and regularly occurring. The most common carriers for rabies are raccoons, skunks, foxes and bats. Rabies infection is possible but very rare among small rodents like mice, squirrels, rats and chipmunks.
Symptoms of rabies can vary depending on the individual animal, the time of year and location, but generally include a loss of coordination, abnormal behavior, confusion, lack of fear, difficulty eating and excessive aggression. If left untreated, Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention says rabies is almost always fatal in humans.
Moffet wasn’t bitten or exposed to rabies, but the encounter left him more than a little concerned.
“It was very aggressive. It was chasing me around. If I’d stumbled or fallen or anything else, it wouldn’t have been good,” Moffet said. “I’m glad it wasn’t a fox or a raccoon, because they can run faster than I can.”
The incident is one of several rabid animal encounters reported in the past two months and isn’t the first that’s ended with a dead animal.
In October, Deer Isle Town Manager Jim Fisher said he received about half a dozen reports of animals, mainly raccoons, exhibiting symptoms of rabies. Two people were bitten by raccoons that month and underwent rabies treatment. A woman was bitten on the hand while taking out her trash and a man shot and killed a rabid raccoon that was biting his leg.
There have been no more local bites since October and only one rabies case has been confirmed by state testing. Many of the reports are just sightings, but several have ended with gunshots.
After hearing that a raccoon chased a neighbor and their dog, Deer Isle resident Bill Anderson put up a sign that reads “caution rabid raccoon spotted.”
While hunting in that same area, near Dunham Point Road, on Nov. 15, resident Lucas Eaton said he saw a raccoon that looked “messed up” and was acting erratically. When he came back to that spot later that day, Eaton said he found the animal shot.
In a recent interview, Fisher said calls to the town office about rabid animals have largely dropped off. Mark Latti, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said the state warden service-which handles wild animal control cases-has not responded to any calls from Deer Isle recently.
Moffet said he called and reported the incident to the warden service, but because the animal was dead and he wasn’t exposed, they did not come to his home.
Maine CDC data show that there’s been 46 confirmed rabies cases this year, lower than the annual average. There have only been three confirmed cases of rabies in Hancock County this year. Potentially rabid animals however, are usually only tested if they’ve bitten or exposed a pet or human.
Timely treatment after exposure to rabies is highly effective and vital to prevent infection. There has not been a death from rabies in the state for decades, according to the state health agency.
Anyone who is bitten, scratched or otherwise exposed to a possibly rabid animal should see a health care professional or primary care physician as soon as possible, according to Maine CDC.
Maine CDC has a 24/7 hotline for questions about rabies exposure at 800-281-5821.
To report a potentially rabid animal, call the Maine Warden Service or the nearest state police dispatch center. Call 800-432-7381 for the Bangor State Police dispatch center.
The Maine Coast Veterinary Hospital on South Street in Blue Hill is holding a low cost drive through vaccination clinic for dogs and cats from 10 a.m. to noon on Dec. 13.
