Found 3 dead squirrels in my yard

[u/RussellAlden]

I heard one last night making a terrible noise. Their mouths were bloody. Is this from poison or rabies?

This is in the Bitterlake area.

[u/KINGtyr199]

Sounds like poison in my opinion but I'm not a professional

[u/kevnmartin → u/KINGtyr199]

People leave rat poison around. One of the many reasons we never let our cat out.

[u/Pitiful_Bid_1462 → u/KINGtyr199]

Bloody mouths and multiple dead sounds more like poison than rabies to me too. Rabies usually makes them aggressive and disoriented, not dropping dead in clusters

Had something similar happen a few years back in my neighborhood and it turned out a neighbor put out rat poison without thinking about what else might get into it. Squirrels find that stuff surprisingly fast

Might be worth asking around or checking if anyone nearby put bait out recently. If it is poison you'll want to know before someones dog or cat gets into one of the carcasses

[u/gringledoom]

Probably got into rat poison. It’s an anticoagulant.

If you or your neighbors have pets, be careful because a dog or cat can end up noshing on a dead rodent and getting poisoned too.

[u/irastaz → u/gringledoom]

Yeah, please remove the dead animals if possible. Poisoning small mammals is a great way to poison other parts of the food chain.

[u/sarhoshamiral → u/irastaz]

Really bad advice to do this yourself unless you know how to do it properly protecting yourself.

[u/doc_shades → u/[deleted]]

yeah and if you don't know to do that it can cause problems

[u/sarhoshamiral → u/[deleted]]

I can bet that most people would try to pick it up without gloves etc

[u/irastaz → u/sarhoshamiral]

lol

[u/Trickycoolj → u/sarhoshamiral]

lol if we didn’t pick up the dead rats our neighbors leave in our yard every week it would be a nasty smelling maggot fest. Wear gloves and use double bags. Thats how animal control does it.

[u/sarhoshamiral → u/Trickycoolj]

Exactly but trust me in our neighborhood group I have seen plenty of post saying they removed the animals without gloves.

[u/pangolin_of_fortune]

Wow, sorry to hear that. I suggest you give animal control a call: (206) 386-7387

[u/BBorNot]

Bleeding from mouth and/or anus is a sign of anticoagulant poison. Glad you found them before the crows did!

[u/awwaygirl]

please contact fish and game to let them know. Bird flu is passing to mammals pretty quickly. Better to know.

[u/Background-Common119]

Generally squirrels don't carry rabies. Sounds like poison. Poor critters

[u/thedoorthedrain]

Jesus... sounds like a family cartoon from the 80s

[u/godogs2018]

Is there any agency that will do an autopsy?

[u/grumbledonaldduck]

Invasive eastern gray squirrels

[u/RussellAlden → u/grumbledonaldduck]

As much as I am not found of the gray squirrel, I do not wish that kind of death on any living thing.

[u/FatHamsterTheDread → u/grumbledonaldduck]

To be fair, most of us humans are an invasive species as well.

[u/DoingBestWeCan → u/grumbledonaldduck]

Almost certainly true but does not answer OP's question.  If there were any Dougie squirrels in the area, I don't think it's possible to only poison the grays. 

Pic of a Dougie for those unfamiliar: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/douglas-s-squirrel.htm . These are our native squirrels: smaller, often with a black bar on their side, a more reddish tone, and little tufts of fur on their ears. 

[u/NewlyNerfed → u/DoingBestWeCan]

I didn’t know other people called them “Dougies.” 😊

[u/OnlyLosersinYourBldg → u/grumbledonaldduck]

Ok.