What struck down the chipmunk?
September 25, 2010 1:51 PM   Subscribe

There was a chipmunk lying on the bike path today. I assumed someone had hit it with a bike, but it didn't have any visible wounds or injuries. It was moving, but not much. Then a kid picked it up, and brought it to his mom, telling her it was still breathing. The mom said it looked like he had a mouthful of seeds and wondered whether it was choking. She cleared the chipmunk's mouth and then started heading home with it. At this point, the chipmunk was clearly moving, in what I'd call a twitchy kind of way. But it was consenting to be held in a person's hands. Question: what could have been wrong with this chipmunk? E.G. do chipmunks actually choke on their food? Question 2: were kid and mom crazy to pick up a sick animal under these circumstances?
posted by escabeche to Pets & Animals (26 answers total)
 
Question 1: god knows. Tons of things. It's a wild animal; they get diseases, parasites, get old and die, get wounded by bikes and cars and other animals...

Question 2: yes. They need to have the thing rabies tested and they need a course of shots themselves.
posted by sonic meat machine at 2:00 PM on September 25, 2010


Choking is simply the obstruction of the airway, so I see no reason a chipmunk couldn't choke. That said, it's impossible to know from here what the deal actually was. It could be illness, poison, internal injury, old age, anything.

I would generally not advise picking up an injured wild animal, but people with some experience/education doing so would be fine. It's hard to know if, perhaps, the woman was a vet or a volunteer at a rescue org. It's also possible that instead of heading home with it, she was just moving it off of the path to avoid further injury.
posted by kavasa at 2:01 PM on September 25, 2010


Another hazard with wild animals is that they're usually loaded with fleas and ticks. If they die you get a big exodus of bugs into your home.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 2:08 PM on September 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Choking, I dunno, but yes, it was crazy. Chipmunks carry plague, for FSM's sake.
posted by KathrynT at 2:08 PM on September 25, 2010


chipmunks are rarely infected by rabies, they aren't in any danger.
posted by HuronBob at 2:09 PM on September 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


"...they need a course of shots themselves."

Wow, fearmongers. Cool it a little bit.

HuronBob is right, and they're not going to get rabies just from picking up a chipmunk, even if it did happen to be infected - unless it bit them, which the OP didn't mention. Or if the animal's saliva entered their bloodstream via a cut, even rarer.

As to what was wrong with the chipmunk, possibly any number of things. He could have been stunned by a fall or being hit by a bike, could be sick, could be old, who knows.

The mom wasn't crazy, but she probably should have been more cautious. We never move wild animals unless absolutely necessary, and we try to have a pair of heavy gloves handy.
posted by HopperFan at 2:54 PM on September 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


My guess is, if there are no visible injuries, it might have fallen from a tree, or else was sick. We don't have chipmunks where I live, so I'm analogizing to squirrels.
posted by elpea at 2:58 PM on September 25, 2010


Agreeing with HuronBob. Chipmunks are not a major vector of disease.

According to the CDC, human rabies cases in the US and Puerto Rico doubled between 2008 and 2009- from two to four. Even though the growing trend is to be afraid of any touchable surface, they'll be fine as long as they don't stick the thing in their mouths. Besides, given the state of children in their natural habitat, that chipmunk was probably cleaner than the kid who picked it up.

BTW some creepy-crawly infections actually reduce asthma symptions by down-regulating the host's inflammation responses.
posted by Dr. ShadowMask at 3:05 PM on September 25, 2010


they need a course of shots themselves

Buh? There have been like thirty (that's 3-0) cases of rabies in the USA in the last 30 years. Almost all of those cases were transmitted by bats. And you're suggesting people get rabies shots because they touched a chipmunk?

Chipmunks carry plague, for FSM's sake.

Plague? Which infects maybe 10 people per year? All of them in the southwest and not Wisconsin? That plague?

Come on people. The world is not a teeming hotbed of pestilent death just waiting to lure unsuspecting innocents into touching anything that hasn't been sterilized in the last 5 minutes. Messing with wild animals may not be a good idea, but it isn't a good idea mostly because it is bad for the animals not the people touching them. Well, unless you're like touching a polar bear or something.

It must be weird to be so afraid of the world.

Question 2: were kid and mom crazy to pick up a sick animal under these circumstances?

It probably would have been best to use gloves and put the chipmunk in a small box to bring to a vet or something but since the chipmunk was clearly in distress they can probably be forgiven.
posted by Justinian at 3:25 PM on September 25, 2010 [21 favorites]


Even friendly animals can bite and otherwise harm people when they are injured or sick. Picking up an obviously distressed wild animal is lunacy.
posted by galadriel at 3:33 PM on September 25, 2010


Mouthful of seeds: it was probably carrying food in its cheek pouches to winter storage. Chipmunk cheeks!
Not moving: hit by bike in transit? Played with by passing dog then dropped? Small mammals tend to go into a freeze-shock.
Wisdom of picking up: fleas would be my main concern. That, and adding to critter's shock. If it were me I'd probably dither, then pick it up wrapped in a plastic bag if I had one, then put it somewhere warm and quiet, if available. Bare hands, more of an ick/bite factor than anything else.
posted by Erasmouse at 3:34 PM on September 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Bare hands, more of an ick/bite factor than anything else.

Yes, and as galadriel says the danger is being bit or scratched. Which is why I strongly suggest gloves in a case like this. But you're not gonna die from rabies or the plague or ebola or cat scratch fever or something.
posted by Justinian at 3:39 PM on September 25, 2010


Picking up an obviously distressed wild animal is lunacy.

This is clearly one of those topics on which reasonable people differ. You would have to make your own risk assessment about the situation. I would pick up a chipmunk. You might not. Calling someone "crazy" to pick up a wild animal is not really something that you can ascertain since it has much more to do with your own comfort levels and values than with objective risk. In my value system, this is not crazy. Clearly other people do not agree with my assessment. This is my polite way of supporting what Justinian said.

Chipmunks carry seeds in cheek pouches which are not, strictly speaking, part of their mouth (slightly gross pic of a cheek pouch of a dead animal). So if it was choking, it was likely not from having a mouthful of seeds, but I am not a biologist.
posted by jessamyn at 3:40 PM on September 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Yeah I agree with jessamyn - there are a lot of things that are "crazier" than picking up an injured wild animal. I can't say for sure, but I would surely be inclined to do *something* in that situation. I mean shit if the thing was so docile that it let the people hold it, then it was clearly very sick and I bet that the warmth of human hands was very comforting. I probably wouldn't put my fingers in its mouth but who knows.

Along those lines, is rescuing an injured wild animal any worse than rescuing and injured feral dog or cat? I worked at an animal shelter and some of the animals that came in were in pretty bad shape - they hadn't been under any domestic care for quite some time if at ever. Is that different than a chipmunk?
posted by radioamy at 3:49 PM on September 25, 2010


It is conventional wisdom among linguists that humans are the only animals that routinely choke on food, the result of our angled vocal tract, the maladaptivity of which is balanced by the extremely valuable ability to make the range of sounds necessary for language.

I am prepared to stand corrected by a chipmunk biologist, but I have seen this claim many times in the scientific literature on the evolution of the vocal tract, which I know well.
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:02 PM on September 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


I'm voting that the chipmunk was in shock. Not a good time to casually handle the animal; best plans would be to leave it to Fate's hand, or else attempt to move it somewhere warm & quiet, to recover on its own if it can (piling leaves on top, for instance, provides a surprising amount of insulation); or else attempt the full-blown rescue: nestle in a dark box with insulating fluff (leaves/torn paper towels/etc), with water available (small bowl with 1/4" in it).

The chipmunk's cheeks were full of seeds, because that's how they carry food. It wasn't choking. It was therefore gathering food (= doing OK), when the Incident happened that left it in shock. Dog attack? Lawnmower ran over it? Who knows.
posted by IAmBroom at 4:59 PM on September 25, 2010


It's a good rule of thumb -- especially to teach kids -- not to handle wild animals directly. Get gloves, get a shoebox and try to pick it up using the shoebox. I realize different people have different views here. Wild animals, especially if they're hurt and scared, can bite or scratch, and they can carry diseases, or worms, or insect pests that carry diseases or worms, and so on. CDC info on some diseases that wild animals can transmit to humans (in the US)
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:00 PM on September 25, 2010


I worked at an animal shelter and some of the animals that came in were in pretty bad shape - they hadn't been under any domestic care for quite some time if at ever. Is that different than a chipmunk?

Nope. Being the sucker that I am, I keep a slip-leash in my car in case I run into a strange dog that is in dire need of help. It's to make into an emergency muzzle, not to use as a lead on an unfamiliar dog which may know nothing of people, much less leashes. I've been in situations where dogs I was trying to help were trying to attack me, out of fear or pain. I'm gonna try to help, but I'm gonna start by not making it easy for them to hurt me.

I also carry an assortment of blankets and towels that I'd use if I came across a cat or other animal that couldn't be muzzled, to wrap the animal for safety or just envelop it if it were that small. There may be only a small chance that any given animal is carrying a disease, but it's a real chance nonetheless.[*] It's a particularly significant chance if you picked up the animal because it was obviously in distress.

And even if it's not sick, but only injured--a simple bite by many animals is dangerous for more reasons than just the potential of disease. Punctures or complications from mouth bacteria can lead to nasty infections, for example. This can even be the case when it's a domesticated pet and you took proper care of the wound.

I'm a sucker, but I try not to endanger myself more than I really have to.


[*] And if a wild animal bites you, the only way to know if it *was* rabid is to promptly kill it and examine its brain. Do you want to be responsible for the death of the critter you were trying to save? Or do you want to pony up a couple thousand dollars to get prophylactic rabies shots?
posted by galadriel at 7:14 PM on September 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


CDC info on some diseases that wild animals can transmit to humans (in the US)

Most of which are extraordinarily rare in the USA. You're much more likely to be struck by lightning than to contract rabies or plague or tularemia. Hugely more likely in a lot of cases, on the order of 1000x as likely.
posted by Justinian at 7:45 PM on September 25, 2010


I've seen a squirrel, lying on its back in some sort of catatonic state, completely unresponsive but alive. I blocked its windpipe by squeezing its throat. It struggled, but stopped moving when i let go. An hour later something (fox, probably) snagged it. Weird shit happens in the bush and nature takes its course.

Taking animals in this condition home is illegal and usually stupid. It could easily be dying of starvation due to old age and will just croak anyway. Something will eat it, and everyone will be happy.
posted by klanawa at 9:19 PM on September 25, 2010


er... that's "usually illegal and stupid"
posted by klanawa at 9:20 PM on September 25, 2010


So... not an answer, but interesting in terms of the rabies question.

A friend of mine (a retired biology teacher) works for the medical examiner in a small town in Michigan.

Last year there was a death and she was appointed to remove the brain.

This part mystifies me, she's a smart person, the people she worked for should have known better, but, in the process of cutting the top of the skull off, blood and brain matter were misted into the air, she wasn't wearing any protective mask.

A series of rabies shots later, she's fine, and now has a great story to tell.

But, the chipmunk, nah, no rabies there!
posted by HuronBob at 9:54 PM on September 25, 2010


"Something will eat it, and everyone will be happy." Except, of course, the chipmunk.
posted by HuronBob at 9:55 PM on September 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


I've seen a squirrel, lying on its back in some sort of catatonic state, completely unresponsive but alive. I blocked its windpipe by squeezing its throat. It struggled, but stopped moving when i let go. An hour later something (fox, probably) snagged it. Weird shit happens in the bush and nature takes its course.
-- klanawa

Weird indeed! I remember reading a strange but touching short story about this gifted kid who helped injured animals die. I thought it was so weird at the time, and here I read about someone doing the same thing.
posted by eye of newt at 11:33 PM on September 25, 2010


The mother could have been more cautious, but nthing plague being extremely unlikely.

Chipmunkownerfilter: when I was four, I picked up a chipmunk one of our cats was slowly torturing in the living room. My father put it in a cage and we had it as a pet for about six years. It would regularly escape for 3-4 days then miraculously appear (having evaded all three cats) outside its cage chattering to get back in. A few years after it went to chipmunk heaven we did a home renovation - and found thousands of nuts stashed in baseboards and radiator covers.

Not advocating for caving a wild animal, but wily old ChipChip seemed to have a good run!
posted by mozhet at 4:21 AM on September 26, 2010 [3 favorites]


Errr, caging, not caving
posted by mozhet at 4:22 AM on September 26, 2010


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