BELL COUNTY, Texas – A rabid raccoon has been found in Bell County, prompting a warning from law enforcement about contact with wild animals.<\/p>\n
What we know:<\/p>\n
The Bell County Sheriff’s Office says that a raccoon captured during the last week of June has tested positive for rabies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
BCSO responded to a report about the raccoon, who had been exhibiting signs of illness, on Creek Road, east of Temple. The property owner has been notified of the test results.<\/p>\n
The Texas Department of State Health Services has also been notified.<\/p>\n
BCSO is reminding residents to avoid contact with wild animals, especially those that appear sick, unusually aggressive or unusually tame.<\/p>\n
What we don’t know:<\/p>\n
It is currently unknown if the raccoon came into contact with any humans or animals before it was captured.<\/p>\n
What you can do:<\/p>\n
Residents are encouraged to closely monitor their pets and livestock for any unusual behavior or signs or illness.<\/p>\n
Pet owners should also make sure their pets are up-to-date on their rabies vaccinations and avoid letting them roam unsupervised.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anyone with concerns about their pets’ health or potential exposure should contact their veterinarian as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
Residents are also urged to report concerns involving wildlife to Bell County Animal Control through the sheriff’s office.<\/p>\n
What is rabies? <\/p>\n
Dig deeper:<\/p>\n
Rabies is a serious viral disease that affects the nervous system and is almost always fatal once symptoms develop.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prompt medical evaluation and treatment following a potential exposure are highly effective in preventing illness.<\/p>\n
The Source: Information in this report comes from the Bell County Sheriff’s Office and previous reporting by FOX 7 Austin<\/p>\n
Bell County<\/a>Pets and Animals<\/a>Wild Nature<\/a>Health<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BELL COUNTY, Texas – A rabid raccoon has been found in Bell County, prompting a warning from law…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,30675,584,223,5163,2220,216,393,2795],"class_list":["post-364753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-bell-county","tag-health","tag-news","tag-pets-animals","tag-science","tag-tx","tag-us","tag-wild-nature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}