Deer in Yard Behaving Strangely - Sick?? Safe to Work With Hide?

SHOTS, you're tying extenuating circumstances not in evidence here. She said the deer was laying down and the dogs began pestering her. I presume we're not talking about the "yards" like most of us have, but I can give you the name of several state and national parks where you can go today and expect a deer to come up to you. They can be "aggressive" if you cheat them out of a treat. You'd end up in jail. But I see you're just one of those overhormoned macho guys who rationalizes that poaching is OK if YOU say it's OK.

 

Hhmm,, is that Texas law, or your prerogative to be above the law? The deer has as more rights than your dog does.

 

Just Curious...........How many of You have ever seen a Rabid Deer?
What are the Odds?
The whole story sounds fishy to Me in the first place.
Raccoons,Fox,Coyotes and other predators do not compair with a Doe Deer being aggressive..........
I can see it now.....The Doe running up and biting one of the dogs.........LOL
It all Sounds Like BS to me........

 

Never seen it, but deer can get rabies; any mammal can. It is however rare in deer. If & when they did get it, the disease would progress to death fairly quickly. Probably more important, is that deer (or any other herbivore) rarely, if ever, transmit the disease through aggressive behavior/biting/saliva. Risk from attack = minimal. Nobody wants to be the first, so caution is still prudent, but it's never been documented to occur. On the other hand, contamination of a cut from spinal fluid or neural tissue while doing an autopsy or cutting off the head or butchering a sick animal could very conceivably transmit rabies and has resulted in the only reported cases of herbivore transmission of rabies that I am aware of.

 

horsedoctor, I was a bit amazed at reading earlier in the week that a child had been bitten by a rabid beaver. Now I know much has changed since I studied it, but I also thought rodents were very low on the list, especially one that LIVES IN WATER. Had you heard of that one before?

 

I find it odd that in the first post she asks if it's safe to handle the meat and hide then a later post she says the vet had him burn the carcass. If it was burned why would that question be asked in the first post? To me it sounds like the doe lost her fawn and was hanging around "in mourning" at a loss to find her fawn. Mother animals do get distraught upon losing a baby and sometimes remain in the area for days. Could be the dogs killed the fawn. After 3 days of being harassed that doe was probably just exhausted.

 

Had not heard that one. Again, any mammal can get rabies and some get aggressive from the encephalitis it causes and could attack. Rodents in general rarely get rabies and are not known to be able to transmit the disease, but nobody wants to be the first so I suspect the poor kid got a few shots. At least it's not the series of 14 in the belly any more.

 

We were once taught that they "never" get rabies, but have learned different (or the disease has mutated). I recall being told opossum's never contract it because of their slow metabolism.. Here's a link:

http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/19051844/rabid-beaver-attacks-two-sisters-on-lake-anna

 

I've been told opposum's can't get it either. Apparently there's never been a documented case of one having it in NY. But I'm still not going to mess with one! Lol.

 

This whole original post is fishy. For one thing, why would anyone just let this go on for three days? Bring the dogs in, make a phone call. It's also a great argument for leashing/fencing in dogs. I hate seeing dogs running unleashed; one false move, and it's under a car tire they can go. I have had a very obedient, well-trained dog run from me when he saw a squirrel; never again would I consider being responsible for any dog that's not leashed. Fence in a large area for them.. make a contraption out of a clothesline for them to run and be tethered.. ridiculous not to. I don't care if it's "the country," and you live on a little-travelled road; dogs don't know your property boundaries (unless maybe you have them trained with invisible fencing, lol.)

 

But regarding the possibly-rabid topic.. I double-glove my hands when skinning anything. I figure that the cost of gloves is cheaper than the cost of risking my health. Especially when cutting around the lips and teeth. It comes from my tattooing background; we don't stop to wonder if every person is healthy or sick; just cover yourself all of the time. (of course, that is also for keeping your personal germs to yourself, and in taxidermy that is not important, but still.)

 

I wear gloves, too. But I still manage to stab myself more than I would like.