Cooperative Living July 2017 - 7

HistoryMystery
MAY HISTORY MYSTERY
The theme for this year's
column is " Famous
People Born in Virginia. "
You are invited to submit
your guess as to the
identity of the person
pictured in each issue
and submit it in writing,
along with your name,
address and phone
number, via mail to History
Mystery, c/o Cooperative Living, P.O. Box 2340,
Glen Allen, VA 23058-2340 or guess online at
www.co-opliving.com under " Contests. " The deadline
for this month's entries is July 20, 2017. Correct entries
will be placed in a drawing and the winner
announced in the September 2017 issue. The winner
will receive a check for $25. 
HUGGING CHICKENS CAN
MAKE YOU SICK!
The pictures in June's issue of the
sweet children with their feathered
friends are adorable, but this behavior
can make children sick.
Readers can refer to the Washington
Post article written on June 6, " Don't
hug the chickens. " The Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) blames
salmonella outbreaks on pet poultry.
The agency advises that elderly people
and small children should not touch
fowl because they are the most likely to
get seriously ill from salmonella.
Also, it is important to wash or
sanitize your hands after touching
poultry or fresh eggs.
- Barbara Stapor, via email
PET RACCOONS ARE
NOT A GOOD IDEA
The May Cooperative Living included
Margo Oxendine's fond memories of a
pet raccoon. That column might have
suggested that it would be a good idea
to have a pet raccoon.
That's a terrible idea. It's illegal in
www.co-opliving.com
 DO YOU KNOW WHO THIS IS?
Our May 2017 History Mystery was
James E. West. Born near Farmville in
1931, West earned a degree in physics
from Temple University. In 1962,
during a 40-year career with Bell
Laboratories, he developed the
electret transducer technology while
working with Gerhard Sesslet on
human hearing research. Today,
nearly 90 percent of the 2 billion
microphones produced each year
and used in such everyday items as
telephones, camcorders and audio
recording devices are based on the device that West helped
develop, and he holds over 250 foreign and U.S. patents for
the production and design of microphone equipment.
Reader Louise Brann of Warsaw was our $25 winner.
Congratulations, Louise!
many states, including Maryland and
Virginia. It's unfair to the animal. And it
presents significant health risks.
Cute as a baby raccoon might be, it
could be harboring some very serious
diseases. There's a real risk of rabies. If
you're exposed to a raccoon's saliva - if
the raccoon bites you, licks you, playfully
chews on your fingers, or scratches you
- the raccoon should be tested for rabies.
That test requires an examination of brain
tissue, a death sentence for the raccoon.
And if the raccoon did have rabies,
any individual who was exposed will
need a series of shots. According to the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), the cost of that
treatment typically exceeds $3,000.
There's no messing around with rabies.
There is no cure.
Raccoons also are carriers of
baylisascaris procyonis - a nasty parasite.
It can't be killed with bleach or normal
disinfectants. In humans, the parasite
can cause blindness, even death. And
no drugs have been shown to be totally
effective for the treatment of baylisascaris
infection.
July 2017 | Cooperative Living | 5
For your health, and for the health of
the raccoon, please let raccoons - and
all wild animals - be wild animals. There
are animal shelters overflowing with
cats and dogs looking for good homes.
Adopt one, and let the wild things
be wild.
- Randy Huwa, executive vice president,
Wildlife Center of Virginia, Waynesboro 
http://www.co-opliving.com http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living July 2017

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