{"id":490242,"date":"2026-06-09T07:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T07:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/490242\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T07:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T07:36:12","slug":"coati-tests-positive-for-rabies-at-boyce-thompson-arboretum-in-superior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/490242\/","title":{"rendered":"Coati tests positive for rabies at Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">SUPERIOR, AZ (AZFamily) \u2014 Hikers and pet owners are being urged to use caution at <a href=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/4pHfT4gUebCN19tZ8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/4pHfT4gUebCN19tZ8\">Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior<\/a> after a coatimundi found along a trail tested positive for rabies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">Authorities said the animal was seen acting unusually before it was taken in for testing. It appeared fatigued, was stumbling and was behaving erratically near other animals in the area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Signs will be posted around the arboretum warning hikers and other trail users about the rabies concern.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Coatis (Coatimundi) are very social animals, the females and their young often group together...\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/OZTGQMEDU5CDNOF2GIORYOCOL4.jpg\" width=\"980\" height=\"653\" \/>Coatis (Coatimundi) are very social animals, the females and their young often group together to forage. The males are usually solitary. Coatis, unlike their cousins the ringtail and the raccoon, are diurnal, which means they are active during the day.(Recreation.gov)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Rabies is an infectious disease that affects the nervous system of mammals and can spread to both animals and humans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Health officials say anyone who believes they may have been exposed to a rabid animal should seek medical care immediately.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Wild animals showing unusual behavior, including aggression or unusual tameness, should be reported to local animal control officials or the Arizona Game and Fish Department.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Pinal County Animal Care and Control Director Audra Michael said hikers should take extra precautions when bringing pets on trails.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThe first thing is to make sure your pets are properly vaccinated,\u201d she said. \u201cThe other is not to let them roam free while you are hiking; always have them on a leash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Anyone looking for rabies vaccine information for pets in Pinal County can call (520) 509-3555 or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinalcountyaz.gov\/AnimalControl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.pinalcountyaz.gov\/AnimalControl\">Pinal County Animal Care and Control\u2019s website<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/page\/send-us-your-feedback\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/community\/user-content\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">it to us here<\/a> with a brief description.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 KTVK\/KPHO. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SUPERIOR, AZ (AZFamily) \u2014 Hikers and pet owners are being urged to use caution at Boyce Thompson Arboretum&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[75086,210624,246,61,60,75087,210627,210628,91190,210629,82,210626,210625],"class_list":["post-490242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-azfamily","tag-boyce-thompson-arboretum","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-phoenix-news","tag-pinal-county","tag-pinal-county-animal-care-and-control","tag-rabies","tag-rabies-warning","tag-science","tag-superior-arizona","tag-superior-az"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}