The culture today will give mouth to mouth to a stray rabid cat.
we had a lasho apso (sp) put down It had papers and was given to us as a pup. I came home from the road and it had been biting the kids and my wife . I put my hand out palm down and squatted thinking the dog would respond normally to a passive approach.
We sent him to a woman who trained that breed. Three days later she gave us the name of a vet and said see this guy, there is something seriously wrong with the dog. We talked to the vet and he put the dog to sleep for good.
I would guess this may not be so unusual. But once the media sinks their teeth into something they are as irrational as our dog was.