Really unusual. They're nocturnal critters, and seeing one mid-day is just not normal. Wife got home from one of her volunteer jobs and it was walking thru the front yard. Crossed the side street and she didn't follow it. Its a bad sign because they're very rarely seen at 1:15 in the afternoon. Yeah, another thing I'd have probably shot had I seen it. They're not rare, but only at night. My guess is it came up thru the backyard and into the front.

Because of the volume of foot traffic as well as the vehicle traffic out front, its kind of shocking. Its been 45 minutes now so there's no use calling animal control, not that they'd be interested anyway. Guess we'll know in a few days if there's a rabies outbreak.

They are susceptible to canine distemper virus.

https://kywildliferemovalpros....at-to-watch-out-for/

We had one last year wandering around aimlessly in front yards, out in the street, like he was loaded and didn’t give a shit about anything. Find and feathers showed up and got him and put him in a cage. He didn’t protest at all. They said it was obviously distemper. They had a run of it in Destin the year before and got into Ft. Walton last year.

They can also be looking for food. I have had a couple near me who would occasionally do the same.

Remember they carry rabies, so irregular behavior warrants extreme caution...

We had one many years ago mid day. Called the game commission and they asked if I had a firearm and to dispatch it ourselves. They weren't concerned about rabies and that it would most likely be distemper.

When I see raccoons, they are usually roadkill. Cars get a fair number of opossums, too. Monday afternoon I saw both, within maybe 50 yards.

Could have been roused from its overnight spot. Or mama could be out looking for food early. Day time doesn’t always mean diseased.

Spotting one mid-day is unusual. Spotting one mid-day with lots of foot traffic is even more unusual.

Often, my odd Raccoon behavior calls turned out to be distemper. And sometimes they were shitfaced. There was a berry they would eat that had some type of fermentation going on that resulted in them being drunk.

I would have introduced the 22, over the 30 yrs I have lived in the country you see that. Have found several Skunks wandering or laying dead in the middle of the day that most likely have rabies. The Game Rangers say 90% have Rabies and to shoot on sight.

A couple of years ago, I shot a raccoon in the neighbor's yard I found while out with the dogs. It acted drunk and couldn't motivate they way it should when I approached it. Either rabies or distemper. Don't really care which, but I wanted it away from my dogs.

RMD

I base my action on the way the animal looks. If it has healthy looking fur and is moving through with purpose, I leave it alone. Mangy fur and aimlessly wandering is a different story.

From my local wildlife rehabilitators Blue Ridge Wildlife.

We often get calls about raccoons and other wildlife when people see them out and about during the daytime. Many people get concerned that these nocturnal animals may be sick, and that's why they're active at an usual time of day. Seeing a nocturnal animal active in the daytime is NOT cause for concern. This time of year, it can be hard to find food and they may need those daytime hours to forage. It is also cold and animals may choose to forage in the warmer portion of the day and hunker down at night. In the spring, when they have babies to feed, they may need the additional time to get additional food.

When we receive these calls, we will ask people to observe their behavior further - are they appropriately afraid of humans or domestic animals when approached? Are they able to run and climb or are they disoriented, slow, or "drunk" in appearance? Are they actively seizing, tremoring, biting at themselves, circling, or "sleeping" in an open, abnormal area? Do they have obvious wounds or injuries that are preventing them from behaving appropriately? These are all indications that an animal needs professional assistance.


My addition:

In this heat you may see more animals out in daylight hours than usual as well. They are searching for scarce food and water for themselves and their babies.


Also, if you find an injured vector species and wish to get it help with a local rehab please remember to wear gloves when handling and be prepared to answer questions related to you finding it, who it had contact with etc. (don’t just drop it off)

If you fail to wear gloves or give details a potentially injured vector animal (which is otherwise perfectly healthy and could have received care) will require euthanasia.

We have a daytime raccoon in our neighborhood. This guy seems healthy and just prefers dining alone...raids the trash cans in broad daylight...any season.

quote:

Originally posted by P226RN:
From my local wildlife rehabilitators Blue Ridge Wildlife...

When we receive these calls, we will ask people to observe their behavior further - are they appropriately afraid of humans or domestic animals when approached? Are they able to run and climb or are they disoriented, slow, or "drunk" in appearance?

I know this isn't how the rehab folks intended the message, but some Ole Miss folks might be dumb enough to actually intentionally approach a staggering or otherwise abnormal acting critter. My addition to this would be to NOT intentionally approach wildlife acting out of character, because if it's Distemper maybe you're okay, but with Rabies they might just run faster after you than you can run away from them.

Some of my Raccoon calls were fun.
Example:
A family left their home to run to buy groceries and left the garage vehicle door open. 4 of the local Coons came by, inspected the place and located a large bag of dog food on a tall shelf. The family returned and the Coons decided the best place to hide was jumping from the shelf onto the open garage door, between the garage door and the ceiling. The family opened the door from the home into the garage and left it open. At one point, the homeowner pushed the button to close the garage door. This began to evict the Coons and they took action. They jumped onto the roof of the car and from there, jumped down and ran into the house through the open door. The humans evacuated the house pronto and that's when I got involved. Took me 45 minutes to locate and kick them all out of the house.
Protect and Serve!

Several years ago I saw a raccoon in our neighborhood around 4 or 5 in the evening during the summer, so broad daylight. STARING AT THE SUN, motionless, just waiting for The Almighty to call him home.

One of the thing we would do at the fire house in the warmer months, we would sit on the front of the fire apparatus with the bay doors open.
Right next to the fire house was our fireman's field. It was a park we owned but it was run by the town.

One day we noticed 2 township police officers standing on the road leading into the park looking down at the ground.
At one point we heard a slow pop,pop,pop and watched them dancing around after every shot. Eventually they got back in their cars and came over to the fire house.
We asked what was going on, they told us some one reported a racoon out during the day and acting very strange. At some point a local dog had chased it to a storm drain and thats where thy found it.

They decided to dispatch the racoon by shooting it through the openings of the storm drain. Luckily their were no ricochets. When we asked they told us they had Glaser Safety Slugs just for this purpose.
This was also 30 or more years ago so I am not sure if this would still be the way they would handle this today.

Stumbling around, confused, lack of coordination, most likely distemper. Rabid would exhibit aggression, perhaps foaming at the mouth. I recently had to dispatch a young one showing the same symptoms.