A Francestown resident’s dog is under a 45-day quarantine after a rabid raccoon climbed down a tree in the middle of the day and attacked the pet on a recent Thursday afternoon.
Jon Bicknell, who lives on Russell Station Road, said he was outside doing housework around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 22 when his 13-year-old Akita dog named Odin started barking.
“At first I thought someone was coming down the driveway, but then the tone of his bark changed,” Bicknell said recalling the event a week after it happened.
Bicknell said he ran around the house to where Odin was barking where he found his dog fighting the raccoon. When he got there, Bicknell said the raccoon ran back up the tree, dragging an injured leg from the fight, looked at him and hissed. Bicknell then ran inside to grab a firearm, and when he came back out, the raccoon was running down the tree head first and started charging at him. Odin stepped in before it got to Bicknell and fought the raccoon back. Not long after, Bicknell shot the raccoon.
Right after the raccoon hit the ground, Bicknell said, Odin went after it and snapped its neck.
“I grew up out here,” Bicknell said about the large piece of property located off of a dirt road. “I knew there was something wrong with the raccoon.”
Bicknell said he called the state’s Fish and Game Department and they showed up less than an hour after the conversation. The next day, he said, the state lab determined that the raccoon had tested positive for rabies. Not long after the incident, the police department received another report from a Woodward Hill Road resident who spotted a raccoon walking in circles during the day.
A New Ipswich police report on Wednesday, March 28 reads that a local woman’s dog killed a raccoon. The wild animal was tested at a lab in Massachusetts and, later, was positively identified for rabies. The report says the woman’s dog was up-to-date on all of its shots, and that the animal was given a booster after the incident. The woman was told to quarantine her dog for 45 days and advised to contact her neighbors in case the raccoon came into contact with other pets.
Kathy Remillard, a public information officer at the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, said nine animals have tested positive for rabies this year, including two bats, two skunks, four raccoons, and one gray fox.
Rabies is a viral illness that humans and other mammals are susceptible to contracting, according to a public service announcement that was sent out by the Francestown Police Department after the incident took place. The rabies virus is found in the brain, spinal cord, and saliva of an infected animal, according to a page about rabies on the state’s Department of Health and Human Services website. It is spread when any of the infected area touches broken skin, open wounds, or the eyes, mouth, or nose, the website reads. In most cases, the site says, rabies spreads through the bite of an infected animal.
The virus infects the central nervous system and can be fatal.
Bicknell said his shot was pretty clean, although he did get a little bit of the raccoon’s blood on him. He was told later that the virus is not contractable through blood. After the incident, Bicknell said he put gloves on and hosed Odin off.
He said Odin is up-to-date on all of his shots, and the dog got a booster after the incident.
Bicknell said there is a shot humans can take up to 96 hours after exposure to the virus. He was told the shot costs $4,000 to administer. Bicknell is self-employed and doesn’t have health insurance, so he decided to forgo the shot.
The virus shows up about 35 or 40 days after contact has been made, Francestown Police Chief Fred Douglas said.
Bicknell said he won’t know for a few more weeks whether he or his dog Odin contracted rabies during the encounter.
Bicknell said he does tree work for a living, and this time of year is generally a busy season, but he hasn’t worked since the encounter. He said last Thursday that he intended on going back to work at the beginning of this week. He said Odin has been tied up outside since the encounter last week. A hand-drawn sign on a gate leading to Bicknell’s house warns visitors about the rabies quarantine.
Since 1990, one case of a human contracting rabies has been documented in New Hampshire. The case was recorded in 1996 and occurred from a dog bite in Nepal, according to the Francestown public service announcement.
Abigail Mathewson, a state public health veterinarian, said it’s “extremely rare” for humans to contract rabies in the United States because of the public health infrastructure that’s in place. In other countries, she said, it’s more common.
Bicknell said he’s talked to multiple doctors since the incident and the general consensus that there is only a small chance he contracted the virus.
Even though the odds are small, the thought is still enough to keep him up at night.
“I haven’t slept in a week,” Bicknell said on Thursday. “It’s kind of hard not to think about it.”
Abby Kessler can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 234 or akessler@ledgertranscript.com.