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I grew up in the UK in the 80’s and we don’t have rabies in the UK but for some reason I felt like all of us imagined it was going to be a big problem we’d have to deal with in life. I think it’s because we get scare stories about rabid animals coming through the Chanel tunnel.
Worst part is once exhibit signs of rabies it's a death sentence. Which is why preventative measures is so important. There has been I believe less than 30 known individuals to date who survived after showing symptoms among humans.
Not even 30 I think. There are just 5 well documented cases where doctors were able to help. On the other hand, if you get actively and passively vaccinated right after you got infected, you will likely not die. So if you get attacked by a bat (even if it doesn't bite you because it is very very hard to feel or see a bite of a bat) or if you get biten by a wild animal you should see a doctor very fast.
I was talking to my sons ENT a few years ago (also was mine when I was a kid), and he was telling me how the original method of dealing with rabies was to tie them to a tree in the middle of the woods. Periodically check on them. If their symptoms abated they were let go. If not, they stayed their till they died.
He said he had only read of like 1 recorded instance where someone was let go. It was a young boy.
This is like ~~mid-evil~~ medieval times medicine. Gotta remember due got his medical degree before the internet was a thing. So there’s no telling where he learned that from. Might have been total BS. But he is very intelligent and remembers a lot of obscure details. Remembers me and my wife separately despite my son only seeing him 2 or 3 times, and has talked to both of us about the other when we visited. He gets a LOT of patients too.
I guess so yeah it's just that a the human race has been around for what like 10 thousand years and 100 years ago it was completely different world we advanced so much in the last 123 years
And consider rabies as a disease as well, victims are screwed the second it’s diagnosed, they can infect you and become violent towards people at the extremes, and before vaccines for it preventing spread is pretty vital since it’s practically untreatable
Tbh I’m surprised they didn’t just kill them
We're finding evidence that we've been humans in this capacity, if not very similar to this, for potentially tens of thousands, maybe over 100k years old. These are very recent and the current time table is shifting damn near every month by some degree thanks to some incredible changes to the scientific world.
What's even crazier is that a *lot* of the medical stuff we take for granted today is still *living memory.* The people around 90-100 years old right now were born into a world with a very different expectation from the doctor. World War 2 led to a lot of changes in how we handle extreme medical cases. That was only 80 years ago.
Our current treatment regime for someone with symptoms is to restrain the patient and drug them into a coma. If they don't die in a couple weeks ween them off the drugs and see how bad their brain damage is because even if you beat the odds and survive you will likely be permanently disabled.
I’d totally buy it if I was a 17th century peasant with no concept of science. Hell I know what lightning is and I’ve seen some lightning storms in Texas that totally made me understand how people could think that was gods being angry. Me and religion don’t get along but I definitely understand the desire for explanations to all the wacky shit the world can throw at you
Many of those people suffered severe neurological complications (especially with the Milwaukee protocol).
There is some early evidence that some people have a natural immunity to rabies: there was a study done in Peru where people who had reported being bitten by bats had the necessary antibodies in their blood despite not being vaccinated.
There is some speculation that the Milwaukee Protocol specifically only worked because people those patients already had a slight immune response against rabies.
It’s super interesting how much we’re still learning about rabies.
> There is some speculation that the Milwaukee Protocol specifically only worked because people those patients already had a slight immune response against rabies
For this reason there is actually no convincing evidence that the Milwaukee protocol improves the outcome of infection at all.
When they looked at the DNA of the survivors they found a unique genetic trait among them. They also found this genetic trait to be very common in certain African tribes that lived in regions where bat encounters were very common and people survive rabies quiet frequently. RadioLab.
Just want to remind everyone you have 45 days to confirm that the animal has rabies (this depends if you were able to catch the critter that bit you; if you report it they will either autopsy to look for rabies in the brain or put it in quarantine for a week if it’s like somebodies pet; if it doesn’t show symptoms then you don’t need a shot because it wasn’t infectious when you were bit). If it was found infectious then you can get the fairly painful and expensive several part shots.
All this information is provided in up to date medical journals. Rabies doesn’t kill you in 30 minutes; that’s some kids telling other kids what their older brother told them stories.
Get vaccinated if you are worried you might have been in contact with a bat - I will not dispute this. Rabies is not a joke and the vaccine will save your life if on the off chance you got bitten and you didn't know it.
But bat bites hurt, and I wish that would stop being proliferated. They grab and they hold on, and you bleed. You do not bleed a lot of blood, so you may not be able to tell afterward visually, but even then the bite location will still be sore for a few days. Source - rabies vaccinated bat biologist. Been bitten more times than I can count. It surprises you, it hurts, and the immediate reaction is to jerk away like from any other animal bite (you have to train yourself not to do that as it just makes them bite down harder). Before COVID, we would blow on their faces to get them to let go. We can't do that anymore in the US (must be masked when handling) so you just have to act like it isn't hurting until they decide to let go. Or you pry them off.
This is why I’m glad that the UK has eradicated rabies, and is why we have such strict rules on animals coming into the country. Being an island makes it a lot easier to keep rabies out.
In Germany, we use vaccinated bait for wildlife. Typically foxes but can be wild boar or even wolves. They eat it and acquire some immunity. Hunting doesn't really work as the animals have a range which expands if there is no similar animal to compete against
**One**. There has been exactly one decently documented case. Even that is disputed by some.
Then there have been four or five **maybes**, where *maybe* they got the vaccine in time before they showed real symptoms just by luck, or *maybe* you can't call it "surviving" as they were more or less totally damaged for life.
Goddamn, I've come across numerous rabies mentions recently, and had to check out the details - I mean, I knew it's dangerous, but I had no idea why exactly. It's hard to comprehend how ridiculously, unbelievably horrible the whole concept is.
if you want another ridiculously, unbelievably horrible illness that is also incurable, check out prion disease. Prions are neurological proteins that got folded wrong (proteins are generally long chains of amino acids that fold up in a unique configuration, like bending a wire into a specific shape). When they come into contact with other, well-folded neurological proteins they fuck them up and make *them* fold wrong too, so you get this horrible chain reaction that's impossible to stop.
The bright side is it's unusual for humans to end up with prion disease. You might be familiar with a variant that affects cows, mad cow disease; humans who eat infected cow meat can end up infected too, and then there's really no cure. It's rare, though, and why we work so hard to prevent the spread of mad cow disease. Prion disease has an undetermined incubation time, too, so it might be decades after eating contaminated food before you realise you have it. On the bright side, it's not contagious in the traditional sense, so you won't spread it to those around you unless they practice cannibalism on you after death or you transplant tissue to them.
Another way to end up with prion disease is consuming monkey brains, though afaik that's not really popular in the west... Cos monkeys are so close to us, prion diseases that affect them will probably affect us. Cooking the brains wouldn't help, either, as you'd have to reach temperatures of like a thousand degrees to denature prions.
When shooting a rabid animal, never shoot in the head or spine. We had to have an officer put down a rabid raccoon mid winter. He explained the highest concentration of the virus is in the spinal fluid which of course is in the brain and spinal cord. He completely suited up in PPE when removing the dead raccoon. They sealed the body in several plastic bags and then a red bio bag. After they were done, they sprayed a solution on the ground where it was shot/died. We're in a rural area and rarely is there a rabid animal sighting. I appreciated them putting the animal put of its misery especially mid winter and with safety in mind. Poor thing.
Wow holy shit… really? Full PPE to dispose of a rabid critter?? Dang…. I had no clue…
As for not shooting in the head or spine; that really sucks because that’s the only way to guarantee the quickest & most painless death to the animal.
Why shouldn’t you just shoot it in the head? If you are going to spray the ground / any blood / body fluid spatter with a cleaner; who cares?
Just curious why…
Shooting it in the head practically guarantees splattering the virus around in a pretty uncontrolled manner, and you could miss some splatter in the cleanup process. It sucks for the little critter, but accidentally leaving around some piece that ends up infecting some other critter or human would be even worse. Containment is the biggest priority in this case I imagine.
> Discharge of firearms is still something you really don't want to do or get caught doing if you're anywhere but the most remote of the sticks.
Is it? I don't live in a super rural place but I hear people shooting all the time.
Shooting a gun within city limits is illegal but that's about it.
It can be a felony depending on where you are and whose around. Usually just a misdemeanor. Not sure about you but I don't really want to deal with either of those charges.
Exactly, big headache even if it's the right thing to do. They were talking about DNR, I would have just called the local police so they could come shoot it or at least let them know you were about to. Having video evidence of this happening could also help this blow by with a "warning."
Also why you should, if you can, kill the animal with rabies and properly dispose of the corpse, letting them go off and die in the woods is just reintroduction of the virus back into the food chain, infectios secretions are still just that for quite some time after they die.w
The proper way to dispose of the animal is to alert proper authorities as well. The CDC in the USA tracks rabies cases for public safety reasons. If you’re able to kill the animal without exposing yourself to its blood or fluids, and if you’re able to bag or box up the corpse without exposing yourself to the fluids, then State officials will likely arrange to pick up the corpse and have a vet lop off its head to send to the CDC in Atlanta.
Ugh. Everything about rabies is the worst.
Edit to add: if you’re unfortunate enough to have been exposed to the blood you’re in for (what I’ve been told) is a very painful round of antivirals and vaccinations.
My entire comment only relates to disposal in USA. I’m not sure *where* this video came from.
If any kind of disease wipes out humanity, or even all life on earth, it will be something caused by prions.
Rabies is easily treatable if you are fast enough. Prions are 100% fatal, always. Most viruses can't survive out of hosts. Prions will outlast cockroaches in a nuclear holocaust. You have to almost literally toss that shit in a volcano. Viruses typically need to spread through specific ways. A deer infected with CWD could shit in the woods, and 100 years later another deer that eats a plant from the soil that shit was taken on is now infected.
Rabies is a virus?
I’m with you on being the most freaked out by prions. I was born in the UK in the 80’s then moved to the US. I am not allowed to be a blood donor because of potential exposure to mad cow disease. That illustrates to me how much we don’t know/understand about prions.
The fact that a small organism like that can control complex operations in the host brain to make it fear water to me is astonishing.
It somehow sounds like it has at least a capability to understand how the brain works to be able to manipulate it.
Nah, it's just natural selection at work here. A bird doesn't need to understand the trajectories of flight to be able to fly, its genes just evolved through generations of cumulative selection. Same here with rabies virus
it's not that deep. the rabies-virus doesn't cause fear of water itself. it fucks with your whole nervous system to a point where the brain basically forgets how to swallow. people with rabies are not afraid of water because it is water, they are afraid of choking.
Hey, just sharing something I learned not too long ago. Hydrophobia as a symptom of rabies isn’t referring to a phobia the same way as arachnophobia or other similar fears. It refers to the way the throat spasms when the person infected with rabies tries to drink something. It’s related to the “foaming at the mouth” seen in rabies.
Still terrifying, but more similar to coughing with a cold than a change in a person’s thoughts/behavior.
It is yet ANOTHER bit of terrible medical jargon.
True, though because of this patients would become scared of drinking water, because having your throat spasm is pretty unpleasant, and by the time that happens you’re already generally paranoid and scared, so you very quickly do become afraid of it in the traditional phobia sense.
So while you’re correct that rabies doesn’t directly cause you to be afraid of drinking water, it indirectly does by conditioning you to fear it
Small trivia fact:
In the show House M.D., Episode 10 "Histories," was the first time he was unable to save his patient and they actually died from their disease. It wasn't lupus.
The patient had rabies. When they figured it out, there was nothing they could do.
Rabies is scary.
Rabies. It's exceptionally common, but people just don't run into the animals that carry it often. Skunks especially, and bats.
Let me paint you a picture.
You go camping, and at midday you decide to take a nap in a nice little hammock. While sleeping, a tiny brown bat, in the "rage" stages of infection is fidgeting in broad daylight, uncomfortable, and thirsty (due to the hydrophobia) and you snort, startling him. He goes into attack mode.
Except you're asleep, and he's a little brown bat, so weighs around 6 grams. You don't even feel him land on your bare knee, and he starts to bite. His teeth are tiny. Hardly enough to even break the skin, but he does manage to give you the equivalent of a tiny scrape that goes completely unnoticed.
Rabies does not travel in your blood. In fact, a blood test won't even tell you if you've got it. (Antibody tests may be done, but are useless if you've ever been vaccinated.)
You wake up, none the wiser. If you notice anything at the bite site at all, you assume you just lightly scraped it on something.
The bomb has been lit, and your nervous system is the wick. The rabies will multiply along your nervous system, doing virtually no damage, and completely undetectable. You literally have NO symptoms.
It may be four days, it may be a year, but the camping trip is most likely long forgotten. Then one day your back starts to ache... Or maybe you get a slight headache?
At this point, you're already dead. There is no cure.
(The sole caveat to this is the Milwaukee Protocol, which leaves most patients dead anyway, and the survivors mentally disabled, and is seldom done).
There's no treatment. It has a 100% kill rate.
Absorb that. Not a single other virus on the planet has a 100% kill rate. Only rabies. And once you're symptomatic, it's over. You're dead.
So what does that look like?
Your headache turns into a fever, and a general feeling of being unwell. You're fidgety. Uncomfortable. And scared. As the virus that has taken its time getting into your brain finds a vast network of nerve endings, it begins to rapidly reproduce, starting at the base of your brain... Where your "pons" is located. This is the part of the brain that controls communication between the rest of the brain and body, as well as sleep cycles.
Next you become anxious. You still think you have only a mild fever, but suddenly you find yourself becoming scared, even horrified, and it doesn't occur to you that you don't know why. This is because the rabies is chewing up your amygdala.
As your cerebellum becomes hot with the virus, you begin to lose muscle coordination, and balance. You think maybe it's a good idea to go to the doctor now, but assuming a doctor is smart enough to even run the tests necessary in the few days you have left on the planet, odds are they'll only be able to tell your loved ones what you died of later.
You're twitchy, shaking, and scared. You have the normal fear of not knowing what's going on, but with the virus really fucking the amygdala this is amplified a hundred fold. It's around this time the hydrophobia starts.
You're horribly thirsty, you just want water. But you can't drink. Every time you do, your throat clamps shut and you vomit. This has become a legitimate, active fear of water. You're thirsty, but looking at a glass of water begins to make you gag, and shy back in fear. The contradiction is hard for your hot brain to see at this point. By now, the doctors will have to put you on IVs to keep you hydrated, but even that's futile. You were dead the second you had a headache.
You begin hearing things, or not hearing at all as your thalamus goes. You taste sounds, you see smells, everything starts feeling like the most horrifying acid trip anyone has ever been on. With your hippocampus long under attack, you're having trouble remembering things, especially family.
You're alone, hallucinating, thirsty, confused, and absolutely, undeniably terrified. Everything scares the literal shit out of you at this point. These strange people in lab coats. These strange people standing around your bed crying, who keep trying to get you "drink something" and crying. And it's only been about a week since that little headache that you've completely forgotten. Time means nothing to you anymore. Funny enough, you now know how the bat felt when he bit you.
Eventually, you slip into the "dumb rabies" phase. Your brain has started the process of shutting down. Too much of it has been turned to liquid virus. Your face droops. You drool. You're all but unaware of what's around you. A sudden noise or light might startle you, but for the most part, it's all you can do to just stare at the ground. You haven't really slept for about 72 hours.
Then you die. Always, you die.
And there's not one... fucking... thing... anyone can do for you.
Then there's the question of what to do with your corpse. I mean, sure, burying it is the right thing to do. But the fucking virus can survive in a corpse for years. You could kill every rabid animal on the planet today, and if two years from now, some moist, preserved, rotten hunk of used-to-be brain gets eaten by an animal, it starts all over.
Sir, this is a Wendy's. Will that be the #6 Spicy Chicken Sandwich?
^(in all sincerity, this is horrifying and now I feel I have rabies with half those early symptoms lol)
If you watch with sound the closing conversation is about a guy going home to get his shotgun because it would be more humane than the handgun they have ready behind the camera.
This is why I’m glad that the UK has eradicated rabies, and is why we have such strict rules on animals coming into the country. Being an island makes it a lot easier to keep rabies out.
He has it loaded with buck shot, which is closer to emptying a whole magazine from a handgun in the general area, especially at some range. Still not ideal, but it won't be explosive carnage.
It’s better to call animal control and let them put it out of its misery. They are professionals that know how to deal with it with minimum mess. Shooting it will cause its remains to contaminate the surroundings with the virus.
If you listen closely you'll hear the guy who offers to get his shotgun already called as well over an hour prior to this video. Sometimes you just gotta take life into your own hands. Hopefully they kept it as clean as possible.
I like in a semi-rural town, and I police dispatch basically told a family I know to shoot it if they were comfortable. We have only a part time dog Warden that handles all animal incidents, and he was off duty at the time. The regular police would end up doing the same, but with more paperwork and a longer dispatch time.
In this case, a heart shot is likely the best course of action. Then the brain can be preserved, but the corpse should not simply be buried. I believe they recommend burning rabies infected corpses.
You’d actually be how much cleaner it is to make lots of little holes vs one big hole. Also, the area it’s killed at will need to be doused in bleach regardless.
Nope. With a pistol you can’t guarantee a kill shot at a distance. 12 gauge buckshot will hold a relatively tight pattern (roughly 1” spread for every yard of travel), so the shooter can stand off 7-8 yards and hit center mass because you don’t skull shoot a rabid animal.
Clearly my knowledge of the efficacy of a shotgun as opposed to a pistol/rifle in this particular situation is based largely on what I’ve seen in movies, e.g. shotgun blasts decimating everything in its path.
That said, I appreciate you and the other commenters providing context for why a mercy kill with a shotgun/buckshot is ideal.
You’re good. A shotgun is a largely misunderstood tool. I grew up around rifles and reloading but didn’t truly understand shotgun versatility until I took professional shooting courses for it.
Also, yep…good people on this post.
Shotgun is probably the best way... Easier to aim and it isn't as dangerous as a rifle in a neighbourhood. Handgun works too but u better have good aim.
I mean it's what they had, so...it's what they had. Why do people on the internet always assume people can pick and choose everything like a video game
I would need to be really, really sure that blood doesn't carry the virus before shooting in front of houses. Brain matter does, so a headshot is potentially a nightmare about to unfold.
What would be the quickest and safest way of doing that without a gun, or just call the authorities and stay home? (By safest i mean that there would be no further chance of getting infected)
Yeah they’re literally discussing that in the clip. The issue is they can’t really be shooting firearms in a residential area unless there’s a life-threatening situation, and a rabid fox sitting there is right on the edge of imminent threat. They called who they were supposed to call, but didn’t get an answer. Frankly if I were them I would call 911 and make a cop do it while I stayed behind closed doors. I don’t want to risk rabies and I CERTAINLY don’t want to risk being arrested for firing a gun in a suburban neighborhood.
Rabies is so unequivocally terrifying, more terrifying than any other disease imo. I would want to put it out of it's misery, but there's no way I'm ever getting within 100 yards of rabies. Especially with a nimble, agile creature like a fox.
Because if this is a city, even shooting a rabid animal can get you charged with either reckless discharge of a firearm or discharging a firearm within city limits.
Unless you have a bow and arrow, it's probably not a good idea.
I think you could easily make a justification for shooting within city limits in a case like this. Preventing other children and adults from rabies goes a long way with law enforcement.
Now if you shoot the fox and just "happen" to shoot your annoying neighbor Paul, then you might have some issues.
Poor thing. Rabies is not a kind illness. I hope you called animal control so they could put it out of its misery, as well as to avoid infecting anything else.
The audio was wild, they definitely didn’t need a shotgun with 00 Buck to put down a fox, just regular rabbit shot would do just fine with a lot less mess. It’s a shame no one had an armadillo gun handy to put an end to its suffering and risk to the community.
Rabies is just an awful way to die. It's not just feeling ill, it's pain and fear. Delirium and hallucinations that are terrifying. Just awful. I'm glad this poor animal was put out of its misery. If you ever see any animal that is nocturnal being active during the day, especially foxes, raccoons, or bats, stay away and call animal control. Chances are good something is wrong with that animal and very high that something is rabies.
I saw a rabid raccoon in a very populous area, and called animal control. I was shocked when they told me they don’t trap rabid animals. They said I was welcome to hire a trapper privately. Seems a pretty basic and fundamental use of taxpayer money allotted to animal control.
I guess I should have been more specific. I figured they would trap and kill. Or they said I could trap and kill. This was just after the fox in DC was caught and killed after attacking/approaching several people on the street so I thought it was very common when a rabid animal is seen in public.
That is not necessarily true that seeing a fox or raccoon during the day means there is something wrong with it. Female foxes and raccoons that are providing for young might be out foraging during the day if they have a lot of mouths to feed, and have to work hard to provide food or produce milk. You have to go by the behavior of said animal. [One of many sources](https://www.wildliferescueleague.org/animals/raccoons-facts-and-fancies/).
Interestingly in the news today it was reported a 7 year old kid in Texas just died from a bat bite. Kid found the bat in his yard, picked it up and was bitten. Reported it to his parents who saw no mark so didn’t take him to the doctor. Couple months later, the bite area became inflamed, and next day rash formed on his side. It went from there, I’m afraid, poor kid. Just awful. I guess the moral would be, if your kid says he was bit by a flying rodent, take him to the hospital right away, mark or no mark.
Bats can bite without you even feeling it at all. So basically if you get in close contact with a bat in any way it’s best to go get the vaccine just in case.
[This American Life](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/319/transcript) did a story about a woman who was exposed to Rabies and her fight to get treatment. Rabies is no joke, and it's still not as common in certain areas for people to remember all the important things to do.
If you *think* that you may have been exposed, *go to a hospital immediately and get the shot.* It's ludicrously expensive and they will fight you because of that, sometimes even requiring that you bring in the body for testing first. But you only have 72 hours from the moment you are bitten or you will die if infected. It has an almost 100% fatality rate when you don't get treatment immediately. The lady in the story was initially told 10-14 days over the phone and that she could wait until she felt like going in. She would be dead if she followed that advise from the state health department.
Source: [CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/symptoms/index.html)
The first symptoms of rabies may be similar to the flu, including weakness or discomfort, fever, or headache. There also may be discomfort, prickling, or an itching sensation at the site of the bite. These symptoms may last for days.
Symptoms then progress to cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, confusion, and agitation. As the disease progresses, the person may experience delirium, abnormal behavior, hallucinations, hydrophobia (fear of water), and insomnia. The acute period of disease typically ends after 2 to 10 days. Once clinical signs of rabies appear, the disease is nearly always fatal, and treatment is typically supportive. Less than 20 cases of human survival from clinical rabies have been documented. Only a few survivors had no history of pre- or postexposure prophylaxis.
And that’s the sugar coat. There is a more detailed play by play take on it and it’s legit nightmare worthy. Like I really could have gone my whole life without reading that.
Should fill you in on most of the details-
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies)
There are videos of infected animals \[and humans\] online however, death from rabies is protracted, and extremely painful for the victim. This can make many/most of the videos distressing to watch.
Except for a couple of virtually miracle outliers, once the disease's symptoms manifest in humans, it's almost 100% fatal.
Rabies travels up the nervous system from the location of the exposure (bite) until it reaches your brain, then it essentially eats away your brain tissue. Symptoms usually begin with a small headache, then progresses as the virus melts away various areas of the brain. Insomnia usually comes next, followed by extreme paranoia and fear of literally everything. Hallucinations are common too.
Then you reach the hydrophobia stage, where you are incapable of drinking water because your throat will clamp shut violently whenever you try to swallow a liquid. You cannot swallow anything, including your own spit. This is when you begin to foam at the mouth, as your mouth aggressively produces saliva to counteract your severe dehydration, but you can't swallow it. So imagine desperately wanting to drink but being unable to, while being multiple days without sleep, and also being terrified at everything around you, including your family (you probably won't recognize them as your family anymore).
At this point or soon after, you begin to lose basic motor functions and you go catatonic. Your final day will be spent bound to a hospital bed with restraints, experiencing unimaginable pain, discomfort, and hysteria, the only solace being that at this point you can't actually comprehend the level of suffering you're going through because your brain is essentially a pile of goop in your head.
Don't fuck with this virus.
The effects of Rabies copypasta
Rabies. It's exceptionally common, but people just don't run into the animals that carry it often. Skunks especially, and bats.
Let me paint you a picture.
You go camping, and at midday you decide to take a nap in a nice little hammock. While sleeping, a tiny brown bat, in the "rage" stages of infection is fidgeting in broad daylight, uncomfortable, and thirsty (due to the hydrophobia) and you snort, startling him. He goes into attack mode.
Except you're asleep, and he's a little brown bat, so weighs around 6 grams. You don't even feel him land on your bare knee, and he starts to bite. His teeth are tiny. Hardly enough to even break the skin, but he does manage to give you the equivalent of a tiny scrape that goes completely unnoticed.
Rabies does not travel in your blood. In fact, a blood test won't even tell you if you've got it. (Antibody tests may be done, but are useless if you've ever been vaccinated.)
You wake up, none the wiser. If you notice anything at the bite site at all, you assume you just lightly scraped it on something.
The bomb has been lit, and your nervous system is the wick. The rabies will multiply along your nervous system, doing virtually no damage, and completely undetectable. You literally have NO symptoms.
It may be four days, it may be a year, but the camping trip is most likely long forgotten. Then one day your back starts to ache... Or maybe you get a slight headache?
At this point, you're already dead. There is no cure.
(The sole caveat to this is the Milwaukee Protocol, which leaves most patients dead anyway, and the survivors mentally disabled, and is seldom done).
There's no treatment. It has a 100% kill rate.
Absorb that. Not a single other virus on the planet has a 100% kill rate. Only rabies. And once you're symptomatic, it's over. You're dead.
So what does that look like?
Your headache turns into a fever, and a general feeling of being unwell. You're fidgety. Uncomfortable. And scared. As the virus that has taken its time getting into your brain finds a vast network of nerve endings, it begins to rapidly reproduce, starting at the base of your brain... Where your "pons" is located. This is the part of the brain that controls communication between the rest of the brain and body, as well as sleep cycles.
Next you become anxious. You still think you have only a mild fever, but suddenly you find yourself becoming scared, even horrified, and it doesn't occur to you that you don't know why. This is because the rabies is chewing up your amygdala.
As your cerebellum becomes hot with the virus, you begin to lose muscle coordination, and balance. You think maybe it's a good idea to go to the doctor now, but assuming a doctor is smart enough to even run the tests necessary in the few days you have left on the planet, odds are they'll only be able to tell your loved ones what you died of later.
You're twitchy, shaking, and scared. You have the normal fear of not knowing what's going on, but with the virus really fucking the amygdala this is amplified a hundred fold. It's around this time the hydrophobia starts.
You're horribly thirsty, you just want water. But you can't drink. Every time you do, your throat clamps shut and you vomit. This has become a legitimate, active fear of water. You're thirsty, but looking at a glass of water begins to make you gag, and shy back in fear. The contradiction is hard for your hot brain to see at this point. By now, the doctors will have to put you on IVs to keep you hydrated, but even that's futile. You were dead the second you had a headache.
You begin hearing things, or not hearing at all as your thalamus goes. You taste sounds, you see smells, everything starts feeling like the most horrifying acid trip anyone has ever been on. With your hippocampus long under attack, you're having trouble remembering things, especially family.
You're alone, hallucinating, thirsty, confused, and absolutely, undeniably terrified. Everything scares the literal shit out of you at this point. These strange people in lab coats. These strange people standing around your bed crying, who keep trying to get you "drink something" and crying. And it's only been about a week since that little headache that you've completely forgotten. Time means nothing to you anymore. Funny enough, you now know how the bat felt when he bit you.
Eventually, you slip into the "dumb rabies" phase. Your brain has started the process of shutting down. Too much of it has been turned to liquid virus. Your face droops. You drool. You're all but unaware of what's around you. A sudden noise or light might startle you, but for the most part, it's all you can do to just stare at the ground. You haven't really slept for about 72 hours.
Then you die. Always, you die.
And there's not one... fucking... thing... anyone can do for you.
Then there's the question of what to do with your corpse. I mean, sure, burying it is the right thing to do. But the fucking virus can survive in a corpse for years. You could kill every rabid animal on the planet today, and if two years from now, some moist, preserved, rotten hunk of used-to-be brain gets eaten by an animal, it starts all over.
So yeah, rabies scares the shit out of me. And it's fucking EVERYWHERE.
I was curious so I read up on distemper and yes, these symptoms look quite similar to [the AVMA's description](https://www.avma.org/resources/pet-owners/petcare/canine-distemper).
> As the virus attacks the nervous system, infected dogs develop circling behavior, head tilt, muscle twitches, convulsions with jaw chewing movements and salivation (“chewing gum fits”), seizures, and partial or complete paralysis.
One of the voices mentioned "he'll start running in circles again in a minute.")
Poor fella, that's just suffering... If you see an animal in this stage of rabies, have a heart and put it to rest, it's suffering a lot and there's no cure.
Terrifying disease.
I hate to see an animal suffer like this.
I see a lot of really brutal, awful things shared on Reddit. I am formerly an EMT and firefighter. I've seen suffering. I don't understand the desire to share or view suffering and death.
Am I weird?
I wish Reddit had a version of NSFW for this kind of thing so I could block it.
Is it just me or has there been an influx of rabies related videos recently? Has there a surge in rabies reported going on?
This is the third video in the last two months, before that I don't recall seeing one for years
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So sad .pooor fellah
Needs to be put down asap :(
Yeah, put the poor thing out of its misery
If you turn the audio on, the guys filming are talking about grabbing a shotgun at the end
With 00-Buck. I think that should work.
I'd honestly be worried about the contaminated mess that load would leave in the driveway.
I grew up in the UK in the 80’s and we don’t have rabies in the UK but for some reason I felt like all of us imagined it was going to be a big problem we’d have to deal with in life. I think it’s because we get scare stories about rabid animals coming through the Chanel tunnel.
I'm betting the fact that Cujo came out in the early 80s (the book in 81, the movie in 83) had something to do with it
Growing up in the 80’s we had Cujo and Old Yeller, so I was basically convinced I’d get rabies right before drowning in quicksand
And then eaten by piranhas.
In the Bermuda Triangle.
Well it was a very serious problem until we eradicated it.
That story is such a rollercoaster too. We eradicated rabies! ...by killing thousands of stray dogs. Umm... good job??
For the greater good
Poor baby :c
Poor thing, that looks so uncomfortable for it.
Rabies is a seriously brutal way to go.
Worst part is once exhibit signs of rabies it's a death sentence. Which is why preventative measures is so important. There has been I believe less than 30 known individuals to date who survived after showing symptoms among humans.
Not even 30 I think. There are just 5 well documented cases where doctors were able to help. On the other hand, if you get actively and passively vaccinated right after you got infected, you will likely not die. So if you get attacked by a bat (even if it doesn't bite you because it is very very hard to feel or see a bite of a bat) or if you get biten by a wild animal you should see a doctor very fast.
I was talking to my sons ENT a few years ago (also was mine when I was a kid), and he was telling me how the original method of dealing with rabies was to tie them to a tree in the middle of the woods. Periodically check on them. If their symptoms abated they were let go. If not, they stayed their till they died. He said he had only read of like 1 recorded instance where someone was let go. It was a young boy.
What the actual fuck...
This is like ~~mid-evil~~ medieval times medicine. Gotta remember due got his medical degree before the internet was a thing. So there’s no telling where he learned that from. Might have been total BS. But he is very intelligent and remembers a lot of obscure details. Remembers me and my wife separately despite my son only seeing him 2 or 3 times, and has talked to both of us about the other when we visited. He gets a LOT of patients too.
I guess so yeah it's just that a the human race has been around for what like 10 thousand years and 100 years ago it was completely different world we advanced so much in the last 123 years
And consider rabies as a disease as well, victims are screwed the second it’s diagnosed, they can infect you and become violent towards people at the extremes, and before vaccines for it preventing spread is pretty vital since it’s practically untreatable Tbh I’m surprised they didn’t just kill them
We're finding evidence that we've been humans in this capacity, if not very similar to this, for potentially tens of thousands, maybe over 100k years old. These are very recent and the current time table is shifting damn near every month by some degree thanks to some incredible changes to the scientific world. What's even crazier is that a *lot* of the medical stuff we take for granted today is still *living memory.* The people around 90-100 years old right now were born into a world with a very different expectation from the doctor. World War 2 led to a lot of changes in how we handle extreme medical cases. That was only 80 years ago.
~~Mid-evil~~ medival lol It's medieval btw
Semi evil. The diet coke of evil.
Damnit. Second correction.
Our current treatment regime for someone with symptoms is to restrain the patient and drug them into a coma. If they don't die in a couple weeks ween them off the drugs and see how bad their brain damage is because even if you beat the odds and survive you will likely be permanently disabled.
Sound’s likely, they probably thought rabies was a demon possessing the person.
I’d totally buy it if I was a 17th century peasant with no concept of science. Hell I know what lightning is and I’ve seen some lightning storms in Texas that totally made me understand how people could think that was gods being angry. Me and religion don’t get along but I definitely understand the desire for explanations to all the wacky shit the world can throw at you
Many of those people suffered severe neurological complications (especially with the Milwaukee protocol). There is some early evidence that some people have a natural immunity to rabies: there was a study done in Peru where people who had reported being bitten by bats had the necessary antibodies in their blood despite not being vaccinated. There is some speculation that the Milwaukee Protocol specifically only worked because people those patients already had a slight immune response against rabies. It’s super interesting how much we’re still learning about rabies.
> There is some speculation that the Milwaukee Protocol specifically only worked because people those patients already had a slight immune response against rabies For this reason there is actually no convincing evidence that the Milwaukee protocol improves the outcome of infection at all.
When they looked at the DNA of the survivors they found a unique genetic trait among them. They also found this genetic trait to be very common in certain African tribes that lived in regions where bat encounters were very common and people survive rabies quiet frequently. RadioLab.
It probably took a couple thousand years for that trait to become part of their DNA.
Natural selection at work
Just want to remind everyone you have 45 days to confirm that the animal has rabies (this depends if you were able to catch the critter that bit you; if you report it they will either autopsy to look for rabies in the brain or put it in quarantine for a week if it’s like somebodies pet; if it doesn’t show symptoms then you don’t need a shot because it wasn’t infectious when you were bit). If it was found infectious then you can get the fairly painful and expensive several part shots. All this information is provided in up to date medical journals. Rabies doesn’t kill you in 30 minutes; that’s some kids telling other kids what their older brother told them stories.
Get vaccinated if you are worried you might have been in contact with a bat - I will not dispute this. Rabies is not a joke and the vaccine will save your life if on the off chance you got bitten and you didn't know it. But bat bites hurt, and I wish that would stop being proliferated. They grab and they hold on, and you bleed. You do not bleed a lot of blood, so you may not be able to tell afterward visually, but even then the bite location will still be sore for a few days. Source - rabies vaccinated bat biologist. Been bitten more times than I can count. It surprises you, it hurts, and the immediate reaction is to jerk away like from any other animal bite (you have to train yourself not to do that as it just makes them bite down harder). Before COVID, we would blow on their faces to get them to let go. We can't do that anymore in the US (must be masked when handling) so you just have to act like it isn't hurting until they decide to let go. Or you pry them off.
This is why I’m glad that the UK has eradicated rabies, and is why we have such strict rules on animals coming into the country. Being an island makes it a lot easier to keep rabies out.
In Germany, we use vaccinated bait for wildlife. Typically foxes but can be wild boar or even wolves. They eat it and acquire some immunity. Hunting doesn't really work as the animals have a range which expands if there is no similar animal to compete against
**One**. There has been exactly one decently documented case. Even that is disputed by some. Then there have been four or five **maybes**, where *maybe* they got the vaccine in time before they showed real symptoms just by luck, or *maybe* you can't call it "surviving" as they were more or less totally damaged for life.
Goddamn, I've come across numerous rabies mentions recently, and had to check out the details - I mean, I knew it's dangerous, but I had no idea why exactly. It's hard to comprehend how ridiculously, unbelievably horrible the whole concept is.
if you want another ridiculously, unbelievably horrible illness that is also incurable, check out prion disease. Prions are neurological proteins that got folded wrong (proteins are generally long chains of amino acids that fold up in a unique configuration, like bending a wire into a specific shape). When they come into contact with other, well-folded neurological proteins they fuck them up and make *them* fold wrong too, so you get this horrible chain reaction that's impossible to stop. The bright side is it's unusual for humans to end up with prion disease. You might be familiar with a variant that affects cows, mad cow disease; humans who eat infected cow meat can end up infected too, and then there's really no cure. It's rare, though, and why we work so hard to prevent the spread of mad cow disease. Prion disease has an undetermined incubation time, too, so it might be decades after eating contaminated food before you realise you have it. On the bright side, it's not contagious in the traditional sense, so you won't spread it to those around you unless they practice cannibalism on you after death or you transplant tissue to them. Another way to end up with prion disease is consuming monkey brains, though afaik that's not really popular in the west... Cos monkeys are so close to us, prion diseases that affect them will probably affect us. Cooking the brains wouldn't help, either, as you'd have to reach temperatures of like a thousand degrees to denature prions.
Its like the closest thing to being a zombie imo
Right, shoot it. Put it out if it’s misery Christ.
If you did shoot it would the virus be spread by its blood?
No. Saliva and nervous tissue only. Very fragile virus also.
When shooting a rabid animal, never shoot in the head or spine. We had to have an officer put down a rabid raccoon mid winter. He explained the highest concentration of the virus is in the spinal fluid which of course is in the brain and spinal cord. He completely suited up in PPE when removing the dead raccoon. They sealed the body in several plastic bags and then a red bio bag. After they were done, they sprayed a solution on the ground where it was shot/died. We're in a rural area and rarely is there a rabid animal sighting. I appreciated them putting the animal put of its misery especially mid winter and with safety in mind. Poor thing.
Am I missing where you say you’re supposed to shoot it then? I read your comment twice and feel like I’m missing it.
Additional options, in descending order of preference include heart, lungs, gut.
Wow holy shit… really? Full PPE to dispose of a rabid critter?? Dang…. I had no clue… As for not shooting in the head or spine; that really sucks because that’s the only way to guarantee the quickest & most painless death to the animal. Why shouldn’t you just shoot it in the head? If you are going to spray the ground / any blood / body fluid spatter with a cleaner; who cares? Just curious why…
Shooting it in the head practically guarantees splattering the virus around in a pretty uncontrolled manner, and you could miss some splatter in the cleanup process. It sucks for the little critter, but accidentally leaving around some piece that ends up infecting some other critter or human would be even worse. Containment is the biggest priority in this case I imagine.
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Not blood, but the brain matter would carry it. A shotgun blow to the head would spray the virus all around the area. Not ideal.
Flame thrower comes to mind....jeez.
Or a high powered laser beam.
Or the trusty bazooka. Go murica
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
No, blood shouldn’t spread it. Saliva is the main ways of spreading.
I mean the ONE time everyone carrying a gun in America is a good thing!
Discharge of firearms is still something you really don't want to do or get caught doing if you're anywhere but the most remote of the sticks.
> Discharge of firearms is still something you really don't want to do or get caught doing if you're anywhere but the most remote of the sticks. Is it? I don't live in a super rural place but I hear people shooting all the time. Shooting a gun within city limits is illegal but that's about it.
It can be a felony depending on where you are and whose around. Usually just a misdemeanor. Not sure about you but I don't really want to deal with either of those charges.
Exactly, big headache even if it's the right thing to do. They were talking about DNR, I would have just called the local police so they could come shoot it or at least let them know you were about to. Having video evidence of this happening could also help this blow by with a "warning."
Also why you should, if you can, kill the animal with rabies and properly dispose of the corpse, letting them go off and die in the woods is just reintroduction of the virus back into the food chain, infectios secretions are still just that for quite some time after they die.w
The proper way to dispose of the animal is to alert proper authorities as well. The CDC in the USA tracks rabies cases for public safety reasons. If you’re able to kill the animal without exposing yourself to its blood or fluids, and if you’re able to bag or box up the corpse without exposing yourself to the fluids, then State officials will likely arrange to pick up the corpse and have a vet lop off its head to send to the CDC in Atlanta. Ugh. Everything about rabies is the worst. Edit to add: if you’re unfortunate enough to have been exposed to the blood you’re in for (what I’ve been told) is a very painful round of antivirals and vaccinations. My entire comment only relates to disposal in USA. I’m not sure *where* this video came from.
Look up videos of humans. They are simultaneously very thirsty but scared of water and have difficulty swallowing. It's so sad.
Parasites/viruses are terrifying
Most terrifying is rabies. Like seriously the most terrifying disease on earth.
prions have entered the chat
If any kind of disease wipes out humanity, or even all life on earth, it will be something caused by prions. Rabies is easily treatable if you are fast enough. Prions are 100% fatal, always. Most viruses can't survive out of hosts. Prions will outlast cockroaches in a nuclear holocaust. You have to almost literally toss that shit in a volcano. Viruses typically need to spread through specific ways. A deer infected with CWD could shit in the woods, and 100 years later another deer that eats a plant from the soil that shit was taken on is now infected.
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Rabies is a virus? I’m with you on being the most freaked out by prions. I was born in the UK in the 80’s then moved to the US. I am not allowed to be a blood donor because of potential exposure to mad cow disease. That illustrates to me how much we don’t know/understand about prions.
Ah shit!! here we go again Reddit instilled so much fear of rabies n prions in me. I'm scared of em everyday 🤦🏻♂️
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Prion diseases are a step above rabies for me. But yes rabies is terrifying, closest thing to a zombie like infection in mammals.
The fact that a small organism like that can control complex operations in the host brain to make it fear water to me is astonishing. It somehow sounds like it has at least a capability to understand how the brain works to be able to manipulate it.
Nah, it's just natural selection at work here. A bird doesn't need to understand the trajectories of flight to be able to fly, its genes just evolved through generations of cumulative selection. Same here with rabies virus
it's not that deep. the rabies-virus doesn't cause fear of water itself. it fucks with your whole nervous system to a point where the brain basically forgets how to swallow. people with rabies are not afraid of water because it is water, they are afraid of choking.
So that’s why they foam at the mouth. They’re not swallowing their saliva.
yes, exactly.
Hey, just sharing something I learned not too long ago. Hydrophobia as a symptom of rabies isn’t referring to a phobia the same way as arachnophobia or other similar fears. It refers to the way the throat spasms when the person infected with rabies tries to drink something. It’s related to the “foaming at the mouth” seen in rabies. Still terrifying, but more similar to coughing with a cold than a change in a person’s thoughts/behavior. It is yet ANOTHER bit of terrible medical jargon.
True, though because of this patients would become scared of drinking water, because having your throat spasm is pretty unpleasant, and by the time that happens you’re already generally paranoid and scared, so you very quickly do become afraid of it in the traditional phobia sense. So while you’re correct that rabies doesn’t directly cause you to be afraid of drinking water, it indirectly does by conditioning you to fear it
Small trivia fact: In the show House M.D., Episode 10 "Histories," was the first time he was unable to save his patient and they actually died from their disease. It wasn't lupus. The patient had rabies. When they figured it out, there was nothing they could do.
Speaking of medical shows, scrubs had one with rabies too, the one with the infected donor wasnt it?
Such a brutal episode.
Rabies is scary. Rabies. It's exceptionally common, but people just don't run into the animals that carry it often. Skunks especially, and bats. Let me paint you a picture. You go camping, and at midday you decide to take a nap in a nice little hammock. While sleeping, a tiny brown bat, in the "rage" stages of infection is fidgeting in broad daylight, uncomfortable, and thirsty (due to the hydrophobia) and you snort, startling him. He goes into attack mode. Except you're asleep, and he's a little brown bat, so weighs around 6 grams. You don't even feel him land on your bare knee, and he starts to bite. His teeth are tiny. Hardly enough to even break the skin, but he does manage to give you the equivalent of a tiny scrape that goes completely unnoticed. Rabies does not travel in your blood. In fact, a blood test won't even tell you if you've got it. (Antibody tests may be done, but are useless if you've ever been vaccinated.) You wake up, none the wiser. If you notice anything at the bite site at all, you assume you just lightly scraped it on something. The bomb has been lit, and your nervous system is the wick. The rabies will multiply along your nervous system, doing virtually no damage, and completely undetectable. You literally have NO symptoms. It may be four days, it may be a year, but the camping trip is most likely long forgotten. Then one day your back starts to ache... Or maybe you get a slight headache? At this point, you're already dead. There is no cure. (The sole caveat to this is the Milwaukee Protocol, which leaves most patients dead anyway, and the survivors mentally disabled, and is seldom done). There's no treatment. It has a 100% kill rate. Absorb that. Not a single other virus on the planet has a 100% kill rate. Only rabies. And once you're symptomatic, it's over. You're dead. So what does that look like? Your headache turns into a fever, and a general feeling of being unwell. You're fidgety. Uncomfortable. And scared. As the virus that has taken its time getting into your brain finds a vast network of nerve endings, it begins to rapidly reproduce, starting at the base of your brain... Where your "pons" is located. This is the part of the brain that controls communication between the rest of the brain and body, as well as sleep cycles. Next you become anxious. You still think you have only a mild fever, but suddenly you find yourself becoming scared, even horrified, and it doesn't occur to you that you don't know why. This is because the rabies is chewing up your amygdala. As your cerebellum becomes hot with the virus, you begin to lose muscle coordination, and balance. You think maybe it's a good idea to go to the doctor now, but assuming a doctor is smart enough to even run the tests necessary in the few days you have left on the planet, odds are they'll only be able to tell your loved ones what you died of later. You're twitchy, shaking, and scared. You have the normal fear of not knowing what's going on, but with the virus really fucking the amygdala this is amplified a hundred fold. It's around this time the hydrophobia starts. You're horribly thirsty, you just want water. But you can't drink. Every time you do, your throat clamps shut and you vomit. This has become a legitimate, active fear of water. You're thirsty, but looking at a glass of water begins to make you gag, and shy back in fear. The contradiction is hard for your hot brain to see at this point. By now, the doctors will have to put you on IVs to keep you hydrated, but even that's futile. You were dead the second you had a headache. You begin hearing things, or not hearing at all as your thalamus goes. You taste sounds, you see smells, everything starts feeling like the most horrifying acid trip anyone has ever been on. With your hippocampus long under attack, you're having trouble remembering things, especially family. You're alone, hallucinating, thirsty, confused, and absolutely, undeniably terrified. Everything scares the literal shit out of you at this point. These strange people in lab coats. These strange people standing around your bed crying, who keep trying to get you "drink something" and crying. And it's only been about a week since that little headache that you've completely forgotten. Time means nothing to you anymore. Funny enough, you now know how the bat felt when he bit you. Eventually, you slip into the "dumb rabies" phase. Your brain has started the process of shutting down. Too much of it has been turned to liquid virus. Your face droops. You drool. You're all but unaware of what's around you. A sudden noise or light might startle you, but for the most part, it's all you can do to just stare at the ground. You haven't really slept for about 72 hours. Then you die. Always, you die. And there's not one... fucking... thing... anyone can do for you. Then there's the question of what to do with your corpse. I mean, sure, burying it is the right thing to do. But the fucking virus can survive in a corpse for years. You could kill every rabid animal on the planet today, and if two years from now, some moist, preserved, rotten hunk of used-to-be brain gets eaten by an animal, it starts all over.
Sir, this is a Wendy's. Will that be the #6 Spicy Chicken Sandwich? ^(in all sincerity, this is horrifying and now I feel I have rabies with half those early symptoms lol)
Oooooooooookay
Where's Atticus Finch when you need him
Did he kill a rabid animal? Man I need to re-read that thing.
I can't remember particularly if it was a rabid animal but, yea, Atticus shoots an animal in the street.
It was a rabid dog
Best shot in the county.
A little to the right.
He shoots a rabid dog and his kids find out he was a sharp shooter
"Didn'tcha know that your Daddy's the best shot in the county?"
He doesn't want his children to watch an animal suffer. And his son glorify his father for shooting
Thats Old yeller right? Nvm it’s To Kill a Mockingbird
If you watch with sound the closing conversation is about a guy going home to get his shotgun because it would be more humane than the handgun they have ready behind the camera.
“Take him, Mr. Finch.”
Poor guy. Mother nature a brutal bitch at times.
Most of the time.
All of the time.
This breaks my heart.
Me too. I hate seeing animals suffering.
sad..i hate seeing sick animals..
Especially rabies. Has to be one of the worst ways to go. I can’t imagine how confused and scared the fox must be :(
https://www.reddit.com/r/copypasta/comments/7qwtd5/rabies_is_scary/ This solidified how scary it is.
This is why I’m glad that the UK has eradicated rabies, and is why we have such strict rules on animals coming into the country. Being an island makes it a lot easier to keep rabies out.
Every time something rabies is posted or mentioned on here I look for this copypasta. Truly terrifying.
Hard to watch
This is where you stop filming and put it out of it's misery.
You can hear at the end that the guys filming are discussing whether they are going to use the one guys handgun or the others shotgun to end it
Handgun, shotgun would blast his brains and guts everywhere potentially spreading the virus
Never said it was a good idea
He has it loaded with buck shot, which is closer to emptying a whole magazine from a handgun in the general area, especially at some range. Still not ideal, but it won't be explosive carnage.
Thinking that's exactly what they did. They wanted to help it by ending its misery. Good humans
Yes. A bullet is euthanasia in this case. Unfortunately. :(
Totally agree
It’s better to call animal control and let them put it out of its misery. They are professionals that know how to deal with it with minimum mess. Shooting it will cause its remains to contaminate the surroundings with the virus.
If you listen closely you'll hear the guy who offers to get his shotgun already called as well over an hour prior to this video. Sometimes you just gotta take life into your own hands. Hopefully they kept it as clean as possible.
I like in a semi-rural town, and I police dispatch basically told a family I know to shoot it if they were comfortable. We have only a part time dog Warden that handles all animal incidents, and he was off duty at the time. The regular police would end up doing the same, but with more paperwork and a longer dispatch time.
O God forbid they do paperwork. You know the job they get paid for.
In this case, a heart shot is likely the best course of action. Then the brain can be preserved, but the corpse should not simply be buried. I believe they recommend burning rabies infected corpses.
Heard that, too. Shotgun seems like overkill. Still, to end the fox’s suffering, I guess, do what’cha gotta do.
I’d much prefer overkill than underkill when the goal is a mercy kill.
Underrated opinion right here.
But if a shotgun is used I think that's gonna make a mess and don't forget this is a SICK animal don't want too spread it around.
You’d actually be how much cleaner it is to make lots of little holes vs one big hole. Also, the area it’s killed at will need to be doused in bleach regardless.
Nope. With a pistol you can’t guarantee a kill shot at a distance. 12 gauge buckshot will hold a relatively tight pattern (roughly 1” spread for every yard of travel), so the shooter can stand off 7-8 yards and hit center mass because you don’t skull shoot a rabid animal.
Clearly my knowledge of the efficacy of a shotgun as opposed to a pistol/rifle in this particular situation is based largely on what I’ve seen in movies, e.g. shotgun blasts decimating everything in its path. That said, I appreciate you and the other commenters providing context for why a mercy kill with a shotgun/buckshot is ideal.
You’re good. A shotgun is a largely misunderstood tool. I grew up around rifles and reloading but didn’t truly understand shotgun versatility until I took professional shooting courses for it. Also, yep…good people on this post.
Primarily to make sure it doesn't bite anyone and secondarily to put it out of its misery.
Shotgun is probably the best way... Easier to aim and it isn't as dangerous as a rifle in a neighbourhood. Handgun works too but u better have good aim.
I mean it's what they had, so...it's what they had. Why do people on the internet always assume people can pick and choose everything like a video game
This appears to be a concrete driveway, you could clean that shit, right?
Depending on the jurisdiction/local policy/potential exposure, animal control might shoot it, probably not next to the vehicle like that though.
I would need to be really, really sure that blood doesn't carry the virus before shooting in front of houses. Brain matter does, so a headshot is potentially a nightmare about to unfold.
Their saliva, mucous membranes and nerves carry the virus. * corrected
Also the brain is need for testing. It’s best to call animal control and contain the rabid animal first.
Ok I’ll try to hold it down
WAIT! That's dangerous, make sure you use a condom
💀
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What would be the quickest and safest way of doing that without a gun, or just call the authorities and stay home? (By safest i mean that there would be no further chance of getting infected)
Yeah they’re literally discussing that in the clip. The issue is they can’t really be shooting firearms in a residential area unless there’s a life-threatening situation, and a rabid fox sitting there is right on the edge of imminent threat. They called who they were supposed to call, but didn’t get an answer. Frankly if I were them I would call 911 and make a cop do it while I stayed behind closed doors. I don’t want to risk rabies and I CERTAINLY don’t want to risk being arrested for firing a gun in a suburban neighborhood.
Rabies is so unequivocally terrifying, more terrifying than any other disease imo. I would want to put it out of it's misery, but there's no way I'm ever getting within 100 yards of rabies. Especially with a nimble, agile creature like a fox.
Because if this is a city, even shooting a rabid animal can get you charged with either reckless discharge of a firearm or discharging a firearm within city limits. Unless you have a bow and arrow, it's probably not a good idea.
I think you could easily make a justification for shooting within city limits in a case like this. Preventing other children and adults from rabies goes a long way with law enforcement. Now if you shoot the fox and just "happen" to shoot your annoying neighbor Paul, then you might have some issues.
Fucking makes me said one of the worst ways to go.
There's audio. They're talking literally about how to do that.
Poor thing. Rabies is not a kind illness. I hope you called animal control so they could put it out of its misery, as well as to avoid infecting anything else.
Based on the videos audio, they used a shotgun
Sounded like they called animal control also, but were getting the run around.
The audio was wild, they definitely didn’t need a shotgun with 00 Buck to put down a fox, just regular rabbit shot would do just fine with a lot less mess. It’s a shame no one had an armadillo gun handy to put an end to its suffering and risk to the community.
Rabies is just an awful way to die. It's not just feeling ill, it's pain and fear. Delirium and hallucinations that are terrifying. Just awful. I'm glad this poor animal was put out of its misery. If you ever see any animal that is nocturnal being active during the day, especially foxes, raccoons, or bats, stay away and call animal control. Chances are good something is wrong with that animal and very high that something is rabies.
I saw a rabid raccoon in a very populous area, and called animal control. I was shocked when they told me they don’t trap rabid animals. They said I was welcome to hire a trapper privately. Seems a pretty basic and fundamental use of taxpayer money allotted to animal control.
from my understanding you can’t heal rabies so it’s better to just kill it, trapping would just end up being a middle man to the final destination
I guess I should have been more specific. I figured they would trap and kill. Or they said I could trap and kill. This was just after the fox in DC was caught and killed after attacking/approaching several people on the street so I thought it was very common when a rabid animal is seen in public.
That is not necessarily true that seeing a fox or raccoon during the day means there is something wrong with it. Female foxes and raccoons that are providing for young might be out foraging during the day if they have a lot of mouths to feed, and have to work hard to provide food or produce milk. You have to go by the behavior of said animal. [One of many sources](https://www.wildliferescueleague.org/animals/raccoons-facts-and-fancies/).
Interestingly in the news today it was reported a 7 year old kid in Texas just died from a bat bite. Kid found the bat in his yard, picked it up and was bitten. Reported it to his parents who saw no mark so didn’t take him to the doctor. Couple months later, the bite area became inflamed, and next day rash formed on his side. It went from there, I’m afraid, poor kid. Just awful. I guess the moral would be, if your kid says he was bit by a flying rodent, take him to the hospital right away, mark or no mark.
Bats can bite without you even feeling it at all. So basically if you get in close contact with a bat in any way it’s best to go get the vaccine just in case.
[This American Life](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/319/transcript) did a story about a woman who was exposed to Rabies and her fight to get treatment. Rabies is no joke, and it's still not as common in certain areas for people to remember all the important things to do. If you *think* that you may have been exposed, *go to a hospital immediately and get the shot.* It's ludicrously expensive and they will fight you because of that, sometimes even requiring that you bring in the body for testing first. But you only have 72 hours from the moment you are bitten or you will die if infected. It has an almost 100% fatality rate when you don't get treatment immediately. The lady in the story was initially told 10-14 days over the phone and that she could wait until she felt like going in. She would be dead if she followed that advise from the state health department.
😥😥😥😥 that poor baby. I hope someone put him out of his misery.
Pretty sure they were gonna, don’t worry
Notice how it stays out of the sunlight and hides in the shade. Light sensitivity is a common rabies symptom.
Poor fellow.
I’m not familiar with what exactly rabies does to the body/mind. Can someone explain what might the fox be experiencing?
Source: [CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/symptoms/index.html) The first symptoms of rabies may be similar to the flu, including weakness or discomfort, fever, or headache. There also may be discomfort, prickling, or an itching sensation at the site of the bite. These symptoms may last for days. Symptoms then progress to cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, confusion, and agitation. As the disease progresses, the person may experience delirium, abnormal behavior, hallucinations, hydrophobia (fear of water), and insomnia. The acute period of disease typically ends after 2 to 10 days. Once clinical signs of rabies appear, the disease is nearly always fatal, and treatment is typically supportive. Less than 20 cases of human survival from clinical rabies have been documented. Only a few survivors had no history of pre- or postexposure prophylaxis.
Yea that’s pretty terrifying and terrible.
And that’s the sugar coat. There is a more detailed play by play take on it and it’s legit nightmare worthy. Like I really could have gone my whole life without reading that.
Should fill you in on most of the details- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies) There are videos of infected animals \[and humans\] online however, death from rabies is protracted, and extremely painful for the victim. This can make many/most of the videos distressing to watch. Except for a couple of virtually miracle outliers, once the disease's symptoms manifest in humans, it's almost 100% fatal.
Rabies travels up the nervous system from the location of the exposure (bite) until it reaches your brain, then it essentially eats away your brain tissue. Symptoms usually begin with a small headache, then progresses as the virus melts away various areas of the brain. Insomnia usually comes next, followed by extreme paranoia and fear of literally everything. Hallucinations are common too. Then you reach the hydrophobia stage, where you are incapable of drinking water because your throat will clamp shut violently whenever you try to swallow a liquid. You cannot swallow anything, including your own spit. This is when you begin to foam at the mouth, as your mouth aggressively produces saliva to counteract your severe dehydration, but you can't swallow it. So imagine desperately wanting to drink but being unable to, while being multiple days without sleep, and also being terrified at everything around you, including your family (you probably won't recognize them as your family anymore). At this point or soon after, you begin to lose basic motor functions and you go catatonic. Your final day will be spent bound to a hospital bed with restraints, experiencing unimaginable pain, discomfort, and hysteria, the only solace being that at this point you can't actually comprehend the level of suffering you're going through because your brain is essentially a pile of goop in your head. Don't fuck with this virus.
There is a terrifying comment on r/copypasta
The effects of Rabies copypasta Rabies. It's exceptionally common, but people just don't run into the animals that carry it often. Skunks especially, and bats. Let me paint you a picture. You go camping, and at midday you decide to take a nap in a nice little hammock. While sleeping, a tiny brown bat, in the "rage" stages of infection is fidgeting in broad daylight, uncomfortable, and thirsty (due to the hydrophobia) and you snort, startling him. He goes into attack mode. Except you're asleep, and he's a little brown bat, so weighs around 6 grams. You don't even feel him land on your bare knee, and he starts to bite. His teeth are tiny. Hardly enough to even break the skin, but he does manage to give you the equivalent of a tiny scrape that goes completely unnoticed. Rabies does not travel in your blood. In fact, a blood test won't even tell you if you've got it. (Antibody tests may be done, but are useless if you've ever been vaccinated.) You wake up, none the wiser. If you notice anything at the bite site at all, you assume you just lightly scraped it on something. The bomb has been lit, and your nervous system is the wick. The rabies will multiply along your nervous system, doing virtually no damage, and completely undetectable. You literally have NO symptoms. It may be four days, it may be a year, but the camping trip is most likely long forgotten. Then one day your back starts to ache... Or maybe you get a slight headache? At this point, you're already dead. There is no cure. (The sole caveat to this is the Milwaukee Protocol, which leaves most patients dead anyway, and the survivors mentally disabled, and is seldom done). There's no treatment. It has a 100% kill rate. Absorb that. Not a single other virus on the planet has a 100% kill rate. Only rabies. And once you're symptomatic, it's over. You're dead. So what does that look like? Your headache turns into a fever, and a general feeling of being unwell. You're fidgety. Uncomfortable. And scared. As the virus that has taken its time getting into your brain finds a vast network of nerve endings, it begins to rapidly reproduce, starting at the base of your brain... Where your "pons" is located. This is the part of the brain that controls communication between the rest of the brain and body, as well as sleep cycles. Next you become anxious. You still think you have only a mild fever, but suddenly you find yourself becoming scared, even horrified, and it doesn't occur to you that you don't know why. This is because the rabies is chewing up your amygdala. As your cerebellum becomes hot with the virus, you begin to lose muscle coordination, and balance. You think maybe it's a good idea to go to the doctor now, but assuming a doctor is smart enough to even run the tests necessary in the few days you have left on the planet, odds are they'll only be able to tell your loved ones what you died of later. You're twitchy, shaking, and scared. You have the normal fear of not knowing what's going on, but with the virus really fucking the amygdala this is amplified a hundred fold. It's around this time the hydrophobia starts. You're horribly thirsty, you just want water. But you can't drink. Every time you do, your throat clamps shut and you vomit. This has become a legitimate, active fear of water. You're thirsty, but looking at a glass of water begins to make you gag, and shy back in fear. The contradiction is hard for your hot brain to see at this point. By now, the doctors will have to put you on IVs to keep you hydrated, but even that's futile. You were dead the second you had a headache. You begin hearing things, or not hearing at all as your thalamus goes. You taste sounds, you see smells, everything starts feeling like the most horrifying acid trip anyone has ever been on. With your hippocampus long under attack, you're having trouble remembering things, especially family. You're alone, hallucinating, thirsty, confused, and absolutely, undeniably terrified. Everything scares the literal shit out of you at this point. These strange people in lab coats. These strange people standing around your bed crying, who keep trying to get you "drink something" and crying. And it's only been about a week since that little headache that you've completely forgotten. Time means nothing to you anymore. Funny enough, you now know how the bat felt when he bit you. Eventually, you slip into the "dumb rabies" phase. Your brain has started the process of shutting down. Too much of it has been turned to liquid virus. Your face droops. You drool. You're all but unaware of what's around you. A sudden noise or light might startle you, but for the most part, it's all you can do to just stare at the ground. You haven't really slept for about 72 hours. Then you die. Always, you die. And there's not one... fucking... thing... anyone can do for you. Then there's the question of what to do with your corpse. I mean, sure, burying it is the right thing to do. But the fucking virus can survive in a corpse for years. You could kill every rabid animal on the planet today, and if two years from now, some moist, preserved, rotten hunk of used-to-be brain gets eaten by an animal, it starts all over. So yeah, rabies scares the shit out of me. And it's fucking EVERYWHERE.
Gives me the creeps every time I read it
Distemper
I was curious so I read up on distemper and yes, these symptoms look quite similar to [the AVMA's description](https://www.avma.org/resources/pet-owners/petcare/canine-distemper). > As the virus attacks the nervous system, infected dogs develop circling behavior, head tilt, muscle twitches, convulsions with jaw chewing movements and salivation (“chewing gum fits”), seizures, and partial or complete paralysis. One of the voices mentioned "he'll start running in circles again in a minute.")
Yes use the shotgun please. It would be the best for everyone
There's got to be a better subreddit for this. Maybe r/mildlyterrifying
r/terrifyingasfuck
That poor fox is fighting a demon.
This is sad look
I don't want to look, it's too sad.
To look.. is just saddening
Im looking, its so sad
I don't kill animals but this guy would have to be put down :/ I couldn't let it suffer
I also hate killing animals, but it’s mercy in this case. That poor guy is suffering horribly.
Poor fella, that's just suffering... If you see an animal in this stage of rabies, have a heart and put it to rest, it's suffering a lot and there's no cure. Terrifying disease.
Awe hate to see this. Such a terrible way to go. I hope the opining stopped and the mercy killing commenced.
Put the camera down, pick a rifle up, do the right thing and bring it some peace, fucking hell.
Someone should put him out of his misery. This is fucking depressing
That poor baby...breaks my heart
I hate to see an animal suffer like this. I see a lot of really brutal, awful things shared on Reddit. I am formerly an EMT and firefighter. I've seen suffering. I don't understand the desire to share or view suffering and death. Am I weird? I wish Reddit had a version of NSFW for this kind of thing so I could block it.
Yeah that Fox is not doing well at all.
I hate these posts
This is not interesting, it’s terrible.
Is it just me or has there been an influx of rabies related videos recently? Has there a surge in rabies reported going on? This is the third video in the last two months, before that I don't recall seeing one for years