PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WHDH) - A North Providence couple has been exposed to rabies after feeding a raccoon that later tested positive for the virus, health officials announced Saturday in a reminder not to feed wildlife.
An environmental police officer responding to a call for a raccoon with an injured foot and trouble balancing on Tuesday euthanized the raccoon, according to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
The raccoon tested positive for rabies on Thursday.
There has not been a human case of rabies in Rhode Island since 1940.
The raccoon-adapted strain of the rabies virus is widely found in the wild animal population throughout Rhode Island. Animals with the greatest susceptibility to this strain are raccoons, foxes, skunks, bats, and woodchucks.
“Situations like this highlight the reason why people should keep a safe distance, and keep their pets and livestock a safe distance, from wild animals,” said State Veterinarian and chairman of the Rhode Island Rabies Control Board Scott Marshall, DVM. “Any contact with a wild mammal is a potential rabies exposure that may necessitate a person undergoing rabies preventive treatment, or the animal being euthanized to test for rabies, both of which can be avoided by simply keeping a safe distance.”
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