Zombie raccoons, it seems. are now a thing we should freak out about
I’d be creeped out by this</a >myself:
Robert Coggeshall was playing with his beagles outside his Youngstown, Ohio, house around noon Friday when he saw the raccoon.
The 72-year-old pushed his dogs inside as the raccoon fearlessly made its way right up to the glass door, and for a few moments, the animals sat face to face, fascinated with one another.
Coggeshall thought something was wrong with the raccoon, since it was out in broad daylight. What came next confirmed that. As Coggeshall left his garage to try to shoo the animal away, the raccoon stood up on its hind feet and flashed its sharp, white teeth and pink gums. Saliva dripped from its mouth.
Suddenly, it collapsed into a comatose-like state, Coggeshall said. It soon awoke from its lethargy, walked around for a bit, then got back up on its hind feet again.
For two hours Coggeshall, a wildlife photographer and naturalist, watched the raccoon repeat the bizarre pattern over and over again.
From the good people at Newsweek:
Police in Ohio are investigating reports of “zombie raccoons” that have been spotted by more than a dozen people in the Youngstown area.
Calls placed to police in Youngstown described the raccoons as behaving strangely—the nocturnal animals were appearing in daylight, baring their teeth, standing on their hind legs, and collapsing with apparent lethargy before repeating the same behaviour.
Residents also describe the raccoons as being fearless in the face of things that would usually frighten them, such as loud noises, WKBN reported.
The animals’ behavior was so strange that residents dubbed them “zombie raccoons,” displaying signs of what authorities said was likely a viral disease called distemper.
Great. Walking Dead wildlife. As if we don’t have enough to about already…
