Common sense also plays an equally important role in minimizing potentially dangerous contact with wild animals and the pathogens they carry. Simply stated, you and your pets need to avoid contact with rodents and other wild animals because they can carry some very deadly diseases. Ticks can transmit Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme disease. Mammals such as raccoons, skunks, coyotes and foxes can transmit rabies. In fact, bats cause most of the human rabies cases in the United States.
Most wild animals come out at night and are afraid of people.
So, if you see a wild animal during the day, you should avoid having contact with it and notify animal control authorities because it may have rabies. Keep your home clean. At night when insects, rodents and other animals search for food, keep tight-fitting lids on food containers and on the garbage containers. Discard any excess food and take up pet water bowls when not in use. The closer wild animals live to your house, the more likely they are to find a way inside.