Published: 09/21/2007
City issues rabies alert
By Paul Leighton
Staff writer
BEVERLY - The city's animal services officer issued an alert yesterday after a bat found in a home in Ryal Side tested positive for rabies, the fourth positive test in an animal in Beverly since last September.
Animal Services Officer James Lindley said a cat that lived in the home had to be euthanized because it had not been vaccinated for rabies and could have caught the deadly virus from the bat.
"There are infants in the home, so we had to be careful," Lindley said.
Rabies is a fatal disease of the brain and spinal cord caused by a virus. According to the state Department of Public Health, hundreds of animals are found to have rabies each year in Massachusetts.
It is very rare in humans in the United States but common in certain animals, like bats, skunks, raccoons and foxes, according to the DPH. The disease is spread when a rabid animal bites or scratches, or through the infected animal's saliva.
In the past year, two bats, a raccoon and a skunk found in Beverly have tested positive for rabies at the state lab in Jamaica Plain, Lindley said. In his previous five years as the city's animal services officer, only one animal had tested positive for rabies, he said.
Lindley speculated that recent mild winters have allowed the wildlife population to grow, increasing the odds of finding an animal with rabies.
"There's an abundance of wildlife," he said. Two dogs and two cats that came in contact with the rabid animals had to be quarantined in their homes for six months. Those animals did not have to be euthanized because they had been vaccinated against rabies, Lindley said.
Lindley said it's important for pet owners to ensure that their cats' and dogs' rabies vaccinations are current. Unvaccinated animals who come into contact with a rabid animal usually must be euthanized as a precautionary measure, he said.
Lindley said some owners of house cats assume the cats don't need to be vaccinated because they never go outside.
"People just don't realize that rabies isn't just something out in the wild. It could be right in your house and you don't even know it," he said.
Lindley said he got about a half-dozen calls in August from residents who had bats in their homes.
Anyone who spots a bat or a wild animal acting peculiar, sick or injured should call the city's animal services office at 978-921-6000, ext. 2361, or the police department at 978-921-1212.
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