Can You Guys Help Me Out With This Question?

[basskicker98]

So a buddy and I were out fishing for trout and we weren't having much luck. We grabbed some mesh from his bag and quickly caught enough crayfish for a delicious dinner later on. That's beside the point though.... after we had hauled out the 20 or so crayfish and only one trout, we were walking up a wooded path. My friend says,"A bad day fishing is better than a good day at.... WHAT THE HELL!!!" He feels a sharp pain and looks down and has a porcupine quill sticking out of his leg. He's now on the ground trying to rip the quill from his shin, and the porcupine is coming back for more!!! The little beast, showing no sign of fear, prepares to ram into my buddy for a second time. My friend scuttles back and jumps into the stream, and I am suddenly a very lonely man. The porcupine is quite PO'd now, and he comes backing up at me. We were gonna hunt some squirrels for dinner too, so I was armed with a .177 cal pellet rifle. I kinda panicked and without even thinking put 3 shots into the porcupine. He limped full circle, and came back again. 2 more shots to the head and he was still trying to get us for stepping on him. I read online that you can flip 'em easy. SO I used my gun to flip him on his stomach. I plunged my knife into the little buggars neck. After he spazzed out for a minute and tried to bite me once, I slit his neck and bled him out as an act of mercy. We decided porcupine stew was on the menu. If we killed it, we were gonna eat it. The 25 pound beast was slain and gutted. We slit his stomach and began to dress him out, but to our horror a bunch of wiggling yellow worms came out of him when we were dressing him. We decided not to eat him because we weren't overly sure if it was safe. What could've been wrong with this guy? He wasn't rabid, but he showed no sign of fear. He had yellow worms wiggling out of his stomach too. My parents aren't too supportive of my "eat anything" outdoors lifestyle so they actually don't know about this. They freaked out when I ate squirrels and crayfish so if they knew I killed a porcupine things would not be good. Instead of my dad, I talked to a trusted adult friend who knows a lot about the outdoors and he said that while stomach worms are somewhat normal, the fact that the animal was seemingly unafraid is very odd. Could he have been rabid? I didn't see foam or anything. Or did we just annoy him to the point that he didn't even care about getting killed?

[roadwarrior]

There is some chance the animal was rabid and since you came into contact with various body fluids you

should seek IMMEDIATE medical advice. Call your doctor or go to the ER. This should not be taken lightly.

[basskicker98]

Dang it. I just texted my friend and apparently his parents already knew and they don't care that we killed it. He's headed off to the quick care center down the road I hope. I passed on your advice. I'll tell my parents too. Better safe than sorry. They shouldn't be too mad if they knew it was in self defense. I didn't personally come in contact with saliva/ fluids because I was pretty careful to begin with, but I hope he doesn't get rabies from this things.

[basskicker98]

My dad is actually laughing about it but he hopes my friend is OK. That was smoother than expected. I'll update with the news when my friend texts back about his hospital trip. Assuming he is smart enough to head the advice....

[Sam]

There is a some chance the animal was rabid and since you came into contact with various body fluids you

should seek IMMEDIATE medical advice. Call your doctor or go to the ER. This should not be taken lightly.

 

Took the words out of my mouth.

 

An mammal acting out of character is something to avoid.

 

The quill is bad enough; the suspicion of rabies is enough to get you to the doctor, immediately.

 

Be sure to clean all of your clothes and that knife blade, utensils, cutting board and counter top in bleach or throw them away.

 

I would not worry about the yellow worms right now.

 

You have time to call the Main game commission and ask them what they are about.

[basskicker98]

So here's the deal. My friend does not have rabies, but he has to go back for subsequent treatments to be sure. I'll try and call the IFW department in Maine today and see what they say.

[Revival]

Im glad you had your knife.  Glad your friend went to the doc....better safe than sorry.

[Bankbeater]

It was probably aggressive because of the worms.  An injured animal is much more dangerous than a healthy one.

[retiredbosn]

So here's the deal. My friend does not have rabies, but he has to go back for subsequent treatments to be sure. I'll try and call the IFW department in Maine today and see what they say.

Here's my advice. The carcass needs to be sent off to be tested, that's the only way to rule out a rabies infection. You need to be tested too, you were definitely exposed when u stabbed the critter. You don't need to be bitten to have it transmitted to you, it can actually be transmitted through the air as proven by people getting it by walking on bat guano. Rabies is very dangerous, and difficult if not impossible to cure especially after symptoms emerge. Difficult to detect in any living animal, including humans. That's why your friend has to be treated even though his test was negative. The death rate for humans is over 99% once symptoms begin. I strongly encourage you to be tested and treated, as already stated you have been exposed when you stabbed it, slit its throat, and then cleaned it. Unless that porcupine can be tested there is no way of knowing whether you or your friend have it, until u become symptomatic and then it may be too late.

[Hyrule Bass]

i think id take having sams racoons around instead of that porcupine

[retiredbosn]

I have a friend who breeds field trial beagles, he had a rabid skunk get into one of his pens. Even though his dogs were all vaccinated the two dogs that were bitten had to be destroyed. Turns out the mandatory rabies vaccination its only 50% effective. The rest of his dogs had to be quarantined for six weeks. Although my friend wasn't exposed, he wore protective gloves and mask, he still had to be treated for rabies. Please don't mess around with this.

[basskicker98]

Carcass is gone. I went searching today and something obviously got it. I guess I have a doctors drip in my future. I actually fractured my jaw (not too badly though) at a basketball game yesterday so next time I head to the doctors for that(tomorrow) I'll talk about the rabies.