Raccoon Attacks Force Rabies Warning
Posted: 5:43 pm EDT April 3, 2009Updated: 6:14 pm EDT April 3, 2009
ORANGE OCUNTY, Fla. -- There's
a rabies warning across much of Orange County. In just the past few
weeks, rabid raccoons have attacked at least two dogs. So health
officials have put out an alert that stretches all the way from
downtown Orlando to the UCF area.Carrie's boxers are under
quarantine after a rabid raccoon jumped into one of the dog's kennels.
She didn't want her last name revealed, but she did want her neighbors
off Goldenrod Road to know about the rabid raccoon that visited her
backyard."I grabbed a lantern. That's where I found the raccoon inside my dog's kennel," she said.The dog killed the rabid raccoon. He wasn't bitten, but the virus can also be transmitted through a scratch.The
virus attacks the central nervous system. Carrie's dogs were
vaccinated, but it was long enough ago that health officials were
concerned. That's why her dogs and another on Ivanhoe Boulevard were
quarantined. Pets aren't immunized after possible exposure like people.Animal
Services said this weekend it'll be out in wooded east Orange County
neighborhoods warning nearby residents of the rabies threat.The Health Department alert is in effect for 60 days.Carrie
told Eyewitness News, so far, her pets aren't showing any signs of
illness, but because one of them wasn't fully vaccinated it will be
kept out of the family's home for the next six months.
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