{"id":747728,"date":"2026-07-07T03:35:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T03:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/747728\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T03:35:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T03:35:42","slug":"rabid-bat-found-in-sandoval-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/747728\/","title":{"rendered":"Rabid bat found in Sandoval County"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">RIO RANCHO N.M. \u2013 A bat in Sandoval County tested positive for rabies, marking New Mexico\u2019s ninth animal rabies case of 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) said the bat was found in a private home, euthanized and sent to the NMDOH Scientific Laboratory Division for testing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Health officials said all people and animals exposed to the bat are receiving post-exposure vaccines to prevent disease.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRabies is nearly 100% fatal, but 100% preventable,\u201d said Dr. Erin Phipps, state public health veterinarian for NMDOH.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cState law requires all dogs and cats be vaccinated against rabies. Unvaccinated pets exposed to rabies must be euthanized or isolated for four months to prevent human exposure,\u201d said Phipps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In New Mexico, rabies most often shows up in wildlife such as foxes, skunks, bobcats and bats. The state confirmed 13 rabid animals in 2025 and 12 in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NMDOH said bats are the animal most commonly found with rabies in New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">White Sands National Park is also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kob.com\/news\/white-sands-park-rangers-looking-for-teen-who-handled-dead-bat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">seeking a teenage visitor who handled a dead bat<\/a> with bare hands, out of concern the teen may have been exposed to rabies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RIO RANCHO N.M. \u2013 A bat in Sandoval County tested positive for rabies, marking New Mexico\u2019s ninth animal&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-747728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}