From:
sukiec@optonline.com
Date: 2003-03-24 03:33:10 UTC
Subject: RE: URGENT: squirrel?????
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <18129889.1048476790676.JavaMail.root@scandium>
Author wrote:
> http://www.squirrel-rehab.org/ for links to helping the squirrel.
> Squirrels are from the family Rodentia, I think.
Yes, Rodentia, Family Sciuridae Which includes Squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, and prairie dogs
> Only from the carnivora family, the canines and mustelids
> gets canine distemper. Raccoons, skunks, dogs get canine distemper.
Yes.
I have never heard of them being considered a likely rabies vector animal, either. Bats are unusual among small mammals in being listed in vector animal lists. Many small animals die before the disease can move from the brain from what I've been told. Among rodents the ground hogs (of the big kind we get around here) are considered vector animals in some areas, including N.J.
Plague, as both MC and the rehabber said are a problem in some areas with squirrels. I don't know if it has been seen in tree squirrels but certainly there has been a t least one transmission case to a human from a ground squirrel.
I do not know if they never, ever, rarely, or sometimes anywhere can get some of the other serious diseases that are associated with some other forms of rodents (examples: Weils (spelling), Hanta, etc.)
Chipmunks, I think, are among the animals which are Lyme reserviors. Everyone thinks of deer because of one tick type's name but the disease's reservior that infects the very young ticks is ground nesting rodents.
Glad to hear that it worked out right and that in your area they are quite innocuous. ( Most animals are; after all, if most of them weren't reasonably healthy in any species those species wouldn't be around.)