With the Recent Rabies cases in The Colony a quick note on Rabies.
Rabies Awareness: Information and Instructions for School Kids and Their Families
What is rabies?
• A sickness affecting the brain of mammals – animals with hair.
• Rabies makes wild animals act strangely: no fear of people, have trouble walking or flying
• Wild mammals with rabies can give this illness to other mammals (people included!) through a bite or a scratch that breaks the skin. It can also be transmitted if saliva from the rabid animal gets into the eyes, nose, mouth or open cuts of another mammal.
• Rabies is almost always FATAL!!! This means that the infection makes a person or animal so sick that they will die. Luckily there is a therapy which if given within 72 hours of a bite can keep the person from getting sick. Medical treatment should be sought as soon as possible!!!
Which mammals in Texas are most likely to carry rabies?
• Skunks, foxes, raccoons, coyotes and bats. (Texas bats test positive for rabies more than any other state!)
• Cats, dogs and domestic animals can get rabies as well and give it to their families.
• Vaccines against rabies are available to protect ferrets, horses, cows, goats and sheep!
Which mammals in Texas are least likely to carry rabies?
• Cage raised animals like hamsters and gerbils.
• Wild rats, mice, squirrels and rabbits.
• Domestic dogs, cats, ferrets and farm animals current on their rabies immunizations (shots).
Did you know?
• Bats are beneficial. Most eat annoying insects and some pollinate plants.
• Texas has 33 of the 43 different kinds of bat species living in the United States of America!
• A bat that has rabies is so sick it cannot fly so it might be found on the ground.
• Bat teeth are so tiny that bite marks cannot be seen, and a sleeping person can be bitten without knowing it!!!
• You should NEVER touch a bat! Find an adult immediately, and take them to where it is.
• NEVER pick up a bat, even if it appears dead. Find an adult immediately, and take them to where it is.
You can protect your pets from getting rabies by
• ensuring they are properly vaccinated against this disease.
• supervising your pet when it is outside at all times.
• preventing your pet from harassing wildlife.
]]>