Rabid raccoon found in Cherokee County
By Frank Bradley Sentinel writer

Two dogs had to be put down and a third is under a 6-month quarantine after having been attacked by a rabid raccoon in Cherokee County last week, according to the Cherokee County Health Department.

Officials say this is the first confirmed case of rabies in that county in more than 50 years, although Clay County has had two reported rabid wild animal cases in the past ten years.

The rabies virus is fatal, if contracted, and is transmissible to humans. By North Carolina law all unvaccinated animals are considered to be potential carriers of the rabies virus. The health department says extreme caution should be used in any situation where an unfamiliar, aggressive or an animal unhealthy in appearance is encountered.

Kim McClain, the Cherokee County's Environmental Health Specialist said they received a call on Tuesday of last week by a concerned citizen who had been told a neighbor had shot a raccoon that had attacked the dogs. The dogs' owner was not home at the time. The concerned citizen thought the Health Department ought to know about the incident to decide whether or not the raccoon should be tested.

McClain said the Health Department called in Dr. Carlton Van Horn, a local veterinarian, who severed the head of the raccoon and had it packaged in ice and sent to the state lab in Raleigh. On Thursday, the lab called the county to confirm that the raccoon had tested positive.

According to Dr. Van Horn, the raccoon attack upon the dogs took place last week on Johnsonville Road, off US 64 near the Tennessee line.

The dogs did not have current vaccinations on file had to be either placed in a 6-month quarantine or be euthanized, as required by state law. The owner decided to have one of his dogs placed in the quarantine, which is quite expensive, because he was especially attached to that animal, according to McClain. She said it was especially sad to put down the other dogs, which were lovely animals, friendly, wagging their tails, but they had to either be placed in quarantine or euthanized.

Van Horn said there are two types of rabies: the vicious type is characterized by an animal behaving in an unusual way. An example would be a raccoon out in the open in the day time, when normally it would not be there. In the other instance, an animal might look like its jaw is broken and it could be drooling. If a animal appears to show signs of being rabid, it should not be shot in the head because the head needs to be sent to the lab for evaluation.

Van Horn says it is important that children not approach pets that are not theirs, and they should certainly not attempt to pet wild animals.

Dr. Greg Cranford, who is a veterinarian in Peachtree, said even though this is the first case of rabies to be seen in Cherokee County in more than half a century, it could be just the tip of the iceberg.

"Discovering a case of rabies is never not a big deal," he said. "There have been reported cases all around us." Cranford said there have been reported cases in Tennessee and Georgia. A few years ago, a rabid raccoon got into a dog lot on Greasy Creek in Clay County and several years before that a rabid skunk was killed in Clay County near the Georgia line.

According to a report by the Center of Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, raccoons have accounted for the largest percentage of animal rabies cases since 1990. In 1998, 44 percent of all rabies cases among animals in the U.S. occurred among raccoons. From 1990 until 1998, there were more than 35,000 cases of raccoon rabies reported in the U.S. with 99.4 percent occurring in the eastern states.

Prevention of human and domestic animal rabies primarily relies on the public to keep pets vaccinated and to reduce the number of stray animals, the CDC report states.

The Cherokee County Health Department called on three of its veterinarians to hold a sort of "emergency rabies shot clinic," according to Van Horn. That clinic will be held on 1 March at three different locations in Cherokee County. This will be a good opportunity for pet owner to get their pets vaccinated to prevent the spread of rabies.

Dr. Carlton Van Horn will hold the clinic at the Ranger Elementary School from 9 a.m until noon on that Saturday. Dr. Greg Cranford will also hold a clinic at the same time at Peachtree Elementary School, and Dr. David Ackerman will hold a rabies vaccination clinic at the Ingles Parking lot in andrews from 8 a.m. until 9 a.m. on the same day.

Clay County's health director Janice Patterson said there would be a rabies clinic held in Clay County sometime in the spring. She said this would be a good time for pet owners to get their animals vaccinated. NC law requires dogs and cats to be vaccinated for rabies after they are three months old. The shot is good for a year. After that a booster shot needs to be given, which can be good for either a year or three years.

Of course, pet owners who want to get shots for their pets earlier may do so by contacting their local veterinarian.

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