Multiple town residents have recently reported sightings of potentially rabid raccoons.After receiving multiple reports from citizens within the past week of raccoons behaving strangely, the Signal Mountain Police Department is urging town residents to make sure pets are vaccinated and confined to a controlled area, and also that food sources are kept indoors. Police Chief Mike Williams said people should call the SMPD to report sightings of raccoons exhibiting unusual or aggressive behavior.
“Don’t try to handle them yourself,” advised Williams, who decided to post information about the issue on the SMPD Facebook page last week after receiving similar calls from five different people over a three-day period. “We didn’t want to cause undo concern, but since we had so many calls, we felt we should put something up so people would know what’s going on.”
He said an official at the Hamilton County Health Department told him the raccoons’ strange behavior is probably not caused by rabies, but is more likely canine distemper – a viral infection affecting a variety of species – or the highly contagious viral disease Parvo.
Both canine distemper and Parvo are highly contagious, so it’s important to ensure pets are vaccinated yearly, he added.
Neither the Health Department nor the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency respond to calls relating to raccoon problems, said Williams.