Rabies!

This morning when I got to the bus stop, there were two giant posters taped to the bus stop shelter walls.  This isn't unusual -- people often post things about moving sales, housekeepers, babysitters, and stuff like that.  These posters, though, were huge, and there were 2, one in English and one in Spanish.

The posters had a picture of a raccoon on them, and they said RABID RACCOON FOUND in this neighborhood.  Excuse me?  It went on to give the address where they found the raccoon, and then to tell you if you'd had any contact with any wildlife in the past 2 weeks, to contact your doctor. 

This freaks me out.  I've always been scared of rabies.  I'm not sure why.  I think when I was little, my school and my mom and tv ads were always saying stay away from raccoons who are out during the day!  They've got rabies!  I never quite knew what rabies was, just that raccoons who are out during the day have it.  Then when I was in the fourth grade, this kid Mark brought in a dead bat that his dad had killed over the weekend for show and tell.  My teacher freaked out and told us we were all going to have to get rabies shots, 20 in our stomachs.  YIKES!!!  They had the bat tested and it turned out it didn't have rabies, so we were saved from the horrors of a holey stomach.

I'm concerned that there's a raccoon in my neighborhood at all.  I've also heard stories of a coyote about 2 miles from my house.  I live in a city.  A large, East Coast, urban area.  There should be no raccoons at all.  Or especially coyotes.  Of course, I live near the zoo, but even then, I figure I'm more nervous about escape lions than rabid raccoons.  I also live near a large park, but still, I only expect to see squirrels and rats and cockroaches.  To me, this is a sign that wildlife no longer has a safe place to live.  We're pushing them into cities with suburban sprawl and plentiful food sources.