he should have made himself throw up, the water was probably poisoned by the body depending on how long the body had been there

he should have

#47 - I would have thought that unless the spring is slow flowing or feeds into a stagnant pond he'd be relatively safe, especially if he was drinking from near the actual spring itself, because the water would all flow away from that point. Theoretically, there shouldn't be anything upstream. I'm not saying it wouldn't be totally disgusting to see, or there are no circumstances that he could be affected, just that odds on, he'd be OK.

that's not necessarily true. the spring itself could have chemicals contaminating it and he would never have known. the raccoon should be the least of his worries. you never drink from a water source like that without boiling the water first, especially if don't know where exactly it comes from. many streams and creeks like that carry bacteria and viruses, like giardia.

#134 - fair point, but from the sounds of it, OP was reasonably familiar with the stream. My logic is based on all other things being equal, the water flowing away from the source should reduce the chance of contamination from the raccoon. For the record, I use the same logic as you when faced with unfamiliar water.

Unlikely. Rabies dies within minutes when it's host dies.

As good as water contaminated with decomposing raccoon carcass can be.

good, it had a hint of raccoon and cinnamon

Furry.

SPRiNG water is for SWiMMiNG;; SMARt WAtER is for DRiNKiNG;)