Milton WV raccoons not rabid ....just drunk on fermented crabapples.

[underpants]

The police department in a West Virginia town told its residents that the "rabid" raccoons they had reported seeing in their area in recent days were not rabid but drunk on fermented crab apples.

The Milton Police Department wrote on its social media profile that two officers had been forced to take a “masked bandit” into custody earlier this week with the assistance of several neighborhood residents.


“We have had calls [of] suspected rabid raccoons twice over the last two days,” the department said in a short Facebook post. “Turns out they appear to be drunk on crab apples.”

It noted that another officer had caught a raccoon on Sunday with the help of the city street department. It asked the public not to touch the animals—just to report them.

“Today’s culprit was on Mason Street, and it was a community effort,” police said Monday. “Both raccoons were released near the woods unharmed. If you see a staggering and disoriented raccoon, please do not approach it. It could be sick so call us and we’ll take care of it.”

https://www.newsweek.com/rabid-raccoons-are-just-drunk-west-virginia-police-say-1215143

[dem4decades]

1. I drove into a state forest one afternoon and saw a porcupine stumbling around under an apple tree.

I went into the rangers office and asked if it was sick. They told me it came everyday to eat the fermented apples and get a buzz on.

[YessirAtsaFact]

2. Years ago there was a story about a game park in Africa where the elephants were drunk

From eating some fermented fruit.