--- title: 'Zombie' Raccoons With Distemper Are Terrorizing Ohio Town description: Youngstown, Ohio, police have responded to over a dozen calls about "zombie-like" raccoons with distemper freaking out the neighbors. canonical: https://time.com/5229420/zombie-raccoons-ohio-police-reports/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-04-05T16:58:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:51:53.492Z og:title: 'Zombie-Like' Raccoons Standing on Their Hind Legs Are Terrorizing a Town in Ohio og:description: Anyone know if 'The Walking Dead' is filming in Ohio? og:url: https://time.com/5229420/zombie-raccoons-ohio-police-reports/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8dc9b0d932708863/69892cef656a3f3d24bd4129/zombie-raccoon-ohio.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Raccoon with attitude og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Zombie-Like' Raccoons Standing on Their Hind Legs Are Terrorizing a Town in Ohio twitter:description: Anyone know if 'The Walking Dead' is filming in Ohio? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8dc9b0d932708863/69892cef656a3f3d24bd4129/zombie-raccoon-ohio.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Zombie-Like' Raccoons Standing on Their Hind Legs Are Terrorizing a Town in Ohio by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 5, 2018 4:58 PM UTC  Raccoon near Guadalupe, California Raccoon near Guadalupe, CaliforniaAlan Vernon—Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 5, 2018 4:58 PM UTC “Zombie-like” raccoons have taken over an Ohio town. This isn’t the inevitable re-boot of _Night of the Living_ _Dead_, though, or another _Walking Dead_ spin-off. Instead, it’s an eery invasion that has authorities looking for answers. [Police](http://time.com/4954384/raccoon-jumps-windshield-police-van-denver/) in Youngstown, Ohio, have responded to over a dozen calls from concerned humans who have spotted raccoons behaving very strangely, according to [local news outlet _WKBN_](http://www.wkbn.com/news/local-news/reports-of-zombie-like-raccoons-puzzle-youngstown-police/1094907844). The [raccoons were seen popping up](http://time.com/5077215/raccoon-attack-baby-philadelphia/) onto their hind legs, baring their teeth, and then falling over in a comatose state. The animals weren’t easy to scare off, either, and seemed to have lost their natural fear of humans. If that wasn’t odd enough, the majority of the sightings and calls happened in the daytime even though [raccoons](http://time.com/5000007/dinosaur-bandit-mask/) are nocturnal. Police received calls about 14 raccoons over the past three weeks, with some of the residents making the zombie comparison. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said it doesn’t sound like rabies, but rather a disease called distemper. If this diagnosis is correct, distemper is not transmissible to humans, but can be spread to dogs who come in contact with zombie raccoons. > [](https://twitter.com/jesjohnsonn/status/981889336554684416) According to the [American Veterinary Medical Association](https://www.avma.org/public/PetCare/Pages/Canine-Distemper.aspx), distemper “attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems” of infected animals and symptoms include, “head tilt, muscle twitches … seizures, and partial or complete paralysis.” Unfortunately, the affected raccoons have to be captured and put down to prevent the disease from spreading further. It’s worth noting distemper symptoms do not include a hunger for human brains. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5229420/zombie-raccoons-ohio-police-reports/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5229420/zombie-raccoons-ohio-police-reports/"},"headline":"'Zombie-Like' Raccoons Standing on Their Hind Legs Are Terrorizing a Town in Ohio","datePublished":"2018-04-05T16:58:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:51:53.492Z","description":"Anyone know if 'The Walking Dead' is filming in Ohio?","url":"https://time.com/5229420/zombie-raccoons-ohio-police-reports/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","The Walking Dead","Zombies","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8dc9b0d932708863/69892cef656a3f3d24bd4129/zombie-raccoon-ohio.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8dc9b0d932708863/69892cef656a3f3d24bd4129/zombie-raccoon-ohio.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Raccoon with attitude","caption":"Raccoon with attitude","creditText":"Alan Vernon—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5229420/zombie-raccoons-ohio-police-reports/","name":"'Zombie-Like' Raccoons Standing on Their Hind Legs Are Terrorizing a Town in Ohio"}}]}] ```