Mad "Squirrel" Disease?

[crockett]

Do squirrels get mad cow disease?

 

[Old Sarge]

I probably shouldn't do this.....but.....Why do you ask. Reminds me of a Budweiser commercial. :rotf: :shocked2:

 

[Bob Gular]

It's February and the squirrel mating season. They're acting nuts (pun intended) around here too.

 

[rabjr]

I would say no, as they are not a cow, heh.

 

[david50]

several years ago here in Missouri the Conservation Dept. issued a warning about eating squirrel brains (wich are very tastey by the way)something to the effect of a disease simuler to CWD if i remember correctly,aint touched'em since.

 

[tg]

Over the last decade or so there have been numerous cases of problems in various wild animal populations, I would suggest contacting your local game department.

 

[buttonbuck]

I have been told that a big dominant male squirrel will castrate other younger male squirrels to keep them from breeding their females in their territory. I imagine that castration would make them mad. I did read that some males will travel 50 miles to find suitable places to establish themselves which seems to beat the alternative of castration.

 

[rabjr]

I think you've been told an urban legend.

 

[Homesteader]

Quite a while back something named "jackob-Kreutzfeld" disease was diagnosed. (Spelling's probably wrong.) It lead to damage in the brain that was pretty much exactly like Chronic Wasting Disease. Holes in the brain tissue. Pretty nasty.

It only occurred in hunters who actually ate the brains of the squirrel, though. Regular (hind-quarter) meat was okay.

Unless it's found a way to spread from the brain / spinal fluid into muscle tissue, a limb chicken is okay. As long as you don't dip into the skull, they're still good to eat. I don't eat anything but the hindquarters anyway.

 

[redwing]

I think this is limited to areas where cows climb trees and graze on the tops.

 

[ssettle]

:rotf: :shocked2:

 

[Birddog6]

Hey, the stuff I see on TV that cows do in office building & billboards...... seeing on it a tree would not surprise me........ :grin:






Eat Mor Chikin :rotf:

 

[Pork Chop]

several years ago here in Missouri the Conservation Dept. issued a warning about eating squirrel brains (wich are very tastey by the way)something to the effect of a disease simuler to CWD if i remember correctly,aint touched'em since.

Hmmm.... Eating squirrel brains is tough when you head shoot with a .50 muzzleloader... :hmm:

 

[Black Hand]

Quite a while back something named "jackob-Kreutzfeld" disease was diagnosed. (Spelling's probably wrong.) It lead to damage in the brain that was pretty much exactly like Chronic Wasting Disease. Holes in the brain tissue. Pretty nasty.

It only occurred in hunters who actually ate the brains of the squirrel, though. Regular (hind-quarter) meat was okay.

Unless it's found a way to spread from the brain / spinal fluid into muscle tissue, a limb chicken is okay. As long as you don't dip into the skull, they're still good to eat. I don't eat anything but the hindquarters anyway.

Sorry, Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (CJD) has little to do with squirrel brains. It is a degenerative brain condition with an unclear etiology. nvCJD (new variant CJD, very similr to Kuru) is a newer degenerative disease that has been tenuously linked to eating BSE (mad cow disease) infected cow parts. Not only does the infective agent reside in brains and spinal chord but also in the spleen and other lymphatic organs.

That is not saying that squirrels couldn't have a similar disease, as this type of disease is widespread in a variety of forms, but that it is unlikely that the source was the squirrel.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

Here's an old article on the topic:
http://www.greysquirrel.net/brain.html

Gogooling Mad Squirrel Disease brings up 179,000 hits.

 

[Black Hand]

Here's an old article on the topic:
http://www.greysquirrel.net/brain.html

Gogooling Mad Squirrel Disease brings up 179,000 hits.

From the article
"....cautioned that the number of cases is small, and no squirrel brains have actually been examined for the disease....."

I have researched prion diseases in medical/scientific literature and have not come across anything on squirrels. Cows, sheep, goats, mink, deer & elk, humans and a few others, but not squirrels.

 

[ronrryan]

Then, tularemia (sp?) was strictly a rabbit disease, nothing similar in squirrel? Ron in FL

 

[Black Hand]

Then, tularemia (sp?) was strictly a rabbit disease, nothing similar in squirrel? Ron in FL

Tularemia is a bacterial disease (transmissible to humans). These neurodegenerative diseases are prion/virally caused (depending on which camp you are in)

 

[tg]

"some males will travel 50 miles to find suitable places to establish themselves which seems to beat the alternative of castration"

I know one male who would go a damn site farther
and in a big hurry! :shocked2:

 

[ord sgt]

All squirrels around here are brain damaged, IMHO!