Posted on 08/23/2008 8:17:28 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows
Five Beaufort County residents who came in contact with a stray cat are under the care of a physician after the cat tested positive for rabies, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control said today.
“The stray cat had been in the Lady’s Island area for some months and was being fed by several people. The cat became ill and was taken to a veterinarian,” said Sue Ferguson of DHEC's Bureau of Environmental Health. “The cat was euthanized and tested positive for rabies.”
Ferguson said once the rabies virus reaches the brain, the disease is fatal to humans and animals, so the people are receiving preventive inoculations.
According to Ferguson, anyone bitten, scratched or otherwise exposed to the saliva of a rabid animal must undergo immediate measures to stop the virus from reaching the brain.
This is the sixth confirmed rabid animal in Beaufort County in 2008. Last year, there were no rabid animals confirmed in the county. In 2007, there were 162 confirmed cases of rabies in animals in South Carolina. So far this year, there have been 103 confirmed cases in animals in the state.
SC ping!
ouch
Rabies on an island....YIKES!
If all they did was put food out for it, they have no worries.
If there is a rabies problem on the island, why doesn’t the state of South Carolina use baits to innoculate wild animals? Here in South Texas, the incidence of rabies among wild coyotes has gone down dramatically since an inocultation baiting program has been in effect.
Beats me. We can only hope that Governor Sanford sees this thread.
They have always done that for raccoons in florida and are trying to come up with a way to do that for feral cats.....we have so many. One lady had all her cats fixed in a colony....one cat wandered in with rabies. Since she did not have ‘compete and thorough’ paper work for all her cats in the colony, the animal care and control said they will all be killed. The woman is suicidal. They won’t help her just quarantine them. People can be very evil and cold.
“If all they did was put food out for it, they have no worries.”
Depends. I have a friend who USED TO put out food for ferals. A new tom got him good, and he had to be treated as a prophylactic measure. Don’t know what happened to the cat, but that put an end to his feral-feeding habit, far as I know.
Very bad news for both people and felines. =^..^=
A lot of people do what is called trap, spay, and release when it comes to feral and semi-feral cats.
Hi Biggirl.....actually its “Trap Neuter RETURN.” So as not to give the impression you should release a cat anywhere. Which is cruel.
South Carolina Ping
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