Tuckahoe Village Departments

TUCKAHOE TALK
With Mayor John Fitzpatrick

THE WILD KINGDOM

August 17, 2008

To illustrate how far from an expert on wildlife I am: when moving to Tuckahoe, I was quite disturbed by my first sighting of a black squirrel. You see, in Brooklyn we only had the gray kind. I have since discovered that this type of squirrel is not uncommon. In fact, it is not a different species but merely a mutation of higher levels of the pigment melanin. Evidently, some scientist had some money lying around and decided to study this important phenomenon. Nevertheless, upon moving to Tuckahoe, I quickly learned our village’s close proximity to NYC didn’t exempt us from wild animals. This meant my belief that squirrels constituted wildlife was shattered.

Recently, a resident voiced serious concerns with the wildlife of our community, particularly the bat population. She felt I should post signs at the Parkway Oval indicating the presence of bats and the possible danger they represent if one bites you. Any animal that bites or even scratches a human is a dangerous situation, given the seriousness of the rabies virus. Since it is difficult to ascertain if a bat is indeed rabid, often a painful and expensive series of shots is automatically required. An entire family from our village was recently forced to take these shots after possible contact from a bat that was found living in their house. While bats do transmit the rabies virus to humans, they account for one human death per year in the United States. Given this statistic and realizing bats and humans usually coexist without incident, demonstrates there is no need for alarm. However, it is important to remind all children to notify an adult immediately after any physical contact with an animal. This goes for domestic and wild animals. Even an unnecessary and painful remedy far outweighs the consequences of contracting infection.

Coyotes have been spotted along the Bronx River Reservation and foxes are also being seen with regularity near the Parkway Oval. These generally only pose a threat to the random stray cat, rabbit or mouse, but since I have taken the time to write any of this I thought I would mention it. Foxes apparently prefer to hunt at dusk or dark when their prey is more active, but that isn’t an exclusive behavior. I have also noticed more bunnies running around our side streets. This may be due to the fact that the woods are more filled with things looking to eat them. If that is indeed the reason, then in short order the things that eat them will also make their way to our side streets. With any wild animal the threat of rabies is real, but everyone must be cognizant that all wild animals aren’t rabid.

As far as our wild kingdom goes, the only other major players are the skunk and the raccoon. I have read that raccoons are not very effective hunters, which would certainly account for their many garbage pail raids. They have become so well adapted to living near humans that studies show raccoon density in urban areas can be up to 20 times that typical in rural environments. Unfortunately, the raccoon is one of four wild animals in the United States (including the fox, skunk, and bat) considered to be primary carriers of the rabies virus. Even with all this close contact, only a single human death has ever been documented as resulting from the raccoon strain of rabies.

Despite the concern and fear surrounding rabies, advances in public education, vaccination of pets, and post-exposure treatment have greatly reduced the risk to humans. While worldwide 30,000 deaths are attributed to rabies, 99% are from dog bites. This makes the registration and vaccination of our pets even more important. Additionally, if a wild animal is sighted in the daytime, it is a good rule of thumb is to steer clear. Residents should always feel free to contact the Tuckahoe Police Department for animal control, if necessary.

I try to coexist with all of our natural wildlife, even the squirrels, but that isn’t the case for all residents. The father of a friend from this area was so disturbed by the squirrel population in his yard that he took to trapping them and releasing them in Yonkers. Later, alarmed that these same squirrels were mocking him and returning, he started spray-painting them to determine if this was, indeed, occurring. Setting aside the general psychotic nature of this behavior, I always wondered about the guy having coffee on his Yonkers porch pondering the significance of the spray-painted squirrel on his front lawn.