Foothills Animal Rescue

PLEASE, when you come into contact with a wild animal - no matter how cute and how tiny and how innocent it seems there are major health and safety concerns to be considered!!!  When you see us at local festivals, etc. and you get upset with us for having our cute animals with us and not allowing you to touch them, we do it to protect YOU.  Disease transmission is a chance that we take each and every time we handle a wild animal and it is our duty as conservationists and rehabbers to not only protect our animals from humans, but to also protect humans from our animals!  It only takes one encounter with an animal that seemed healthy at the time of contact to create a situation such as the one below. 

Published Fri, May 9, 2008 12:00 AM
By LIZ MITCHELL
lmitchell@islandpacket.com
843-706-8169
BLUFFTON -- Sixteen people who fed, kissed and held a baby raccoon on Hilton Head Island are now being treated by a physician after the animal tested positive for rabies.

Twenty of their pets are under quarantine for 45 days, said Clair Boatwright, spokeswoman for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

There are also seven more people who might need vaccines to prevent them
from contracting the disease, she said.
Though the raccoon was found on Hilton Head, Boatwright was not sure if all
of those exposed are Beaufort County residents. DHEC would not release
names.
"Someone adopted a baby raccoon and passed it around to everyone they knew
and kissed it on the lips," Boatwright said. "There was a lot of affectionate handling, kissing it and feeding it. Part of that is it was 3 weeks old and they inserted fingers into the raccoon's mouth. Saliva is one way that rabies spreads."
Boatwright said the baby raccoon did not show signs of the disease, but got
sick on Monday and had seizures. On Tuesday, a veterinarian euthanized the
animal and sent it to DHEC, where it tested positive for rabies.
In most cases, Boatwright said, wild animals will not showsigns of rabies
and people will not experience symptoms if they are exposed to the disease.
"Once you have a symptom, it has reached the brain and it is fatal," she
said. "If you are exposed to the disease, it doesn't mean you have developed
the disease. That's when we can prevent it."
DHEC urges everyone to leave wild animals alone. Anyone exposed to the
rabies virus through a bite, scratch or saliva of a possibly infected animal
should wash the affected area, seek medical attention and report the
incident, DHEC said.
Every year, about 400 South Carolinians have to undergo preventive treatment
for rabies. This is the first confirmed rabid animal in Beaufort County in 2008. Last year, there were 162 confirmed cases of rabid animals across the state; none was in Beaufort County.

If in doubt, GET THOSE RABIES SHOTS!!!!!