Zoonotic Diseases- Coronavirus, Rabies, Distemper and More

When you hit the homepage of Huntsman Wildlife’s website, the first thing you see is a banner with big white letters saying “Protecting Health and Property”. When I started this company, it was with the intention of providing safety and security to my community. 

When a raccoon enters your living space, it brings with it the potential for viral diseases such as rabies, canine distemper, raccoon parvoviralenteritis, infectious canine hepatitis, and psuedorabies. When a large amount of deer/field mice take over your home that puts you and your family at risk for hantavirus, along with the possibility of ticks carrying lyme disease. Bats can carry a host of different diseases, bacteria, and illness from both live or dead bats, along with accumulations of their fecal deposits. These are just three of the many species of animals that try and invade your homes.

The illnesses these animals carry are known as zoonotic diseases or zoonoses. Zoonotic diseases are caused by harmful germs like viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi. These germs can cause many different types of illnesses in people and animals, ranging from mild to serious illness and even death. Animals can sometimes appear healthy even when they are carrying germs that can make people sick, depending on the zoonotic disease.

Zoonotic diseases are very common, both in the United States and around the world. Scientists estimate that more than 6 out of every 10 known infectious diseases in people can be spread from animals, and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals. This makes it crucial that our community strengthens its capabilities to prevent and respond to these diseases. 

In recent history, the SARS, MERS, and most recent, COVID-19 pandemics are all zoonotic in origin. “Every year, tens of thousands of Americans get sick from diseases spread between animals and people.” Casey Barton Behravesh, M.S., D.V.M., Dr.P.H., director, One Health Office, CDC. 

For a fantastic collection of articles and information, I highly recommend looking at the Center for Disease Control “One Health” web pages at https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth

Many of our friends and family in the Cincinnati area will be spending more time in our homes as we all “self quarantine” and distance ourselves from society. With that increase in time in our homes, some of us are bound to notice noises, evidence such as droppings, or other potentially suspicious things around our home that may have their origins to nuisance wildlife in your home.

If you notice these things, do not hesitate in reaching out to a licensed and qualified Nuisance Wildlife Operator. If the past few weeks has shown me one thing, it is the importance of being ahead of the game when dealing with potential health concerns.

Huntsman Wildlife does not just remove the animal from your home. We will also help create a mitigation and clean up plan to safely and responsibly remove, clean and sanitize areas contaminated with urine, feces, or other animal sources of potential illness.

That being said, we are dedicated to our neighbors and our community and will not stand for the fleecing of Cincinnati residents by companies using fear and high pressure sales tactics to scare people into unnecessary fifteen thousand dollar full attic remediations.

Huntsman Wildlife will be honored to perform a second inspection for any Hamilton, Clermont, Warren, or Butler County resident that gets a quote from another nuisance wildlife company telling the client they need a full attic remediation.

I care deeply about this community, and I take seriously my vow to do my best to protect the health and property of my clients.

Till Next Time… See ya folks.