Orange County animal-control officials recently announced three incidents of rabies in the county, the first cases in 2010.
On Tuesday, officials received a positive rabies result for a bat submitted because of the exposure it had with at least one dog at an Orange County residence in the vicinity of Oak Grove Church and Bradshaw Quarry roads in Mebane.
Last Thursday, lab tests confirmed that a fox submitted by Orange County Animal Services was also rabid. The fox may have exposed six dogs, 14 cats and 19 horses at a farm in the vicinity of Lynch Store and Harmony Church roads in Mebane.
The fox was first sighted a day earlier when three of the dogs on the property began barking early in the morning. The caretaker and manager of the farm witnessed the fox outside of a dog pen acting aggressively and agitating the dogs and called animal control later that morning. By the time animal control responded to the call, the fox was near the horse pastures, still alive but no longer able to walk.
Last Wednesday, tests confirmed rabies in a raccoon involved in an incident last Monday in the vicinity of Fletcher Road and N.C. 86 in Hillsborough. A resident was grilling in her yard and let her dog into the yard. After bringing the dog back inside, she noticed it growling at the door and looked outside to discover a raccoon on the porch falling down every few steps. A second resident in the house shot the raccoon, removed it with a shovel from the porch and called 911 to have Animal Control remove the animal for testing.
The dog in this case was currently vaccinated against rabies and received a booster shot in compliance with North Carolina law. According to that law, if there is “a reasonable suspicion of exposure,” a cat or dog with a current vaccination must receive a booster shot within five days of exposure. An unvaccinated cat or dog would have needed to be humanely euthanized or quarantined for a period of six months at a veterinary clinic.