>>2728320From what I hear, it's not that they can't, it's more that their body temperature is so low it's incredibly unlikely to the point it's nearly impossible. They're pretty clean from what I hear and the only real example of anything they carry is something that they can transmit to horses, which seems extremely overblown as I've never seen actual examples, just "but it could happen!". I guess I'd be acting the same way with a horse worth probably a couple grand though. Other than that, maybe they can carry raccoon roundworm (haven't been able to find much other than the horse thing so who knows) but...
>While raccoons are the roundworm’s primary host, other types of animals can become infected. Birds and small mammals, such as rodents and rabbits, are susceptible to the parasite.>Fewer than 25 cases of Baylisascaris disease have been documented in the United States.>It is possible that human infection is more common than diagnosed and most cases do not reach a clinical stage.>In North America, B. procyonis infection rates in raccoons are very high, being found in around 70% of adult raccoons and 90% of juvenile raccoons.So lol it seems like it's a parasite that can really be in any animal and the possibility of being infected is rare unless you eat, like, raccoon which has been poorly prepared in both the butchering and cooking stages. I believe I've heard foxes can carry it too as well as most canines. So make that most animals in the woods as they include rodents too.
I'm also just curious about what they might carry because I might end up trapping eventually. I think opossums are pretty clean, but it's always hard to tell. Any of those I'd catch I'd probably let go. Raccoons are pretty up there when it comes to amount of diseases carried/likeliness of carrying them. Everything else is somewhere in-between. Squirrels, I think, are pretty clean, probably up near the top.
