I have been attending a virtual conference today and heard a presentation on round worms and raccoons. The speaker said the projection for raccoon numbers is that the population in the city of New Orleans will double in the next decade. She also said the numbers of urban animals carrying round worms was in the neighborhood of 30%. It was an interesting presentation and reinforced for me, the need for thorough hand washing after handling game animals and dirt.

And, of course, using skinning gloves.

Gloves and a handwashing lol. 30% wow...

Got to always wear gloves

I treat every animal like it has HIV....for the most part lol

I don't think I've ever skinned a coon that didn't have worms down in it's feet areas.
Don't the new Orleans animals all have Mardi gras beads around their necks too?
Jim

Just like my dentist does, eh?

That is a sentence that will help me remember to wear gloves .
I've skinned a couple of hogs without gloves - won't ever do that again .

Every time I put gloves on they always get a nick in them and I would have been just as well off without them. I have quit wearing them but am always nervous when skinning. It seems I’ve always got cuts or cracked/bleeding cuticles during trapping season.

It helps to wear nitrile gloves. I skin dozens of animals with the same pair before switching to new gloves.

The speaker, who was a veterinarian, RN and parasitologist caught 65 raccoons within the city of New Orleans. She said round worm eggs were found in the soil in close to 30% of the urban locations where the coon were caught. Many times the locations were play areas for kids. Now, since younger kids play in the dirt, and don’t always wash hands before eating, there is more reason for handwashing.

I learned about this and a lot of other zoonotic diseases when I was in college 40 years ago. We didn’t have much of what I studied in Wisconsin, at the time, but the southern states definitely did, and apparently still do. My wife didn’t want to move south to satisfy my parasitology passion, so I changed directions and found a job in public health, where I created a career. Guess I got off track. Anyway, the city of New Orleans is probably reflective of the southern states and the parasites you can pick up while skinning.

Gloves are cheap insurance, so what if you Nick one with your knife or what ever.
Stop and change the glove with a hole in it.
Anymore I don't skin anything with out gloves even deer or elk I've been fortunate to make it this long I don't want to ruin my winning streak ha ha
Stay Safe out there !
Allan

I bet it would surprise her how many pets have roundworms there also (and tapes and hook and heart etc.etc.)....

I’m experiencing as I get older my skin is getting thinner. Don’t take much to get a cut going. I now use nitrile gloves with a butchers cut resistant 5 on my left hand . Right hand holds the knife so my left is in most danger! Really got to watch when fleshing ,that post knife will open you up if you just bump it!

If gloves keep getting holes, but different ones. Medical grade nitril gloves come at about $60 for 1,000 gloves (500 pairs).

That's .12 cents per pair. Cheapest insurance there is.

These became my favorite disposable gloves the first time I put on a pair.

These puppies are tough. Not like the Dollar Store specials that tear simply putting them on. These are legit. I buy mine at Lowe’s

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CO9...;th=1&psc=1