No, you didn’t read that wrong. Police in Youngstown, Ohio have received a dozen calls in past weeks about raccoons behaving strangely.
In one case, a resident had one of the nocturnal animals come up to his house in broad daylight on its hind legs baring its teeth. It then fell into a comatose state before waking up and repeating the pattern.
Other residents have also reported seeing raccoons out during the day, seemingly unafraid of loud noises that would usually scare them and “staggering around like extras in a George Romero movie.”
Sadly, it would seem the animals are actually infected with distemper, a virus causes respiratory disease, seizures, paralysis and death, and can also lead to brain damage – which would explain their bizarre behaviour.
Luckily it doesn’t affect humans. Good to know – America is dangerous enough as it is without zombie raccoons on the loose.
