{"id":828108,"date":"2026-08-28T00:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T00:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/828108\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T00:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T00:34:14","slug":"rabid-skunk-bats-found-in-four-south-carolina-counties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/828108\/","title":{"rendered":"Rabid skunk, bats found in four South Carolina counties"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rabid skunk, bats found in four South Carolina counties; numerous pets exposed<\/p>\n

\"Zach<\/a>GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. \u2014<\/p>\n

Several animals recently found across South Carolina have been confirmed to have rabies by state health officials.<\/p>\n

Greenville County<\/p>\n

A rabid skunk was found near Cedar Falls and Sweetwater roads in Fountain Inn. The South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) said two cats, two dogs and nine goats were exposed and will be quarantined as required in the South Carolina Rabies Control Act.<\/p>\n

Greenwood County<\/p>\n

Officials said a rabid bat was found near Miller and Ridge roads in Greenwood. One dog was exposed and will be quarantined as required in the South Carolina Rabies Control Act.<\/p>\n

Pickens County<\/p>\n

Another rabid bat was found near Wylie Court and East Hill Drive in Easley. Two cats were exposed and will be quarantined as required in the South Carolina Rabies Control Act.<\/p>\n

Keep up with what’s happening around our area by downloading the WYFF News 4 app<\/a> on the App Store or Google Play.<\/p>\n

Beaufort County<\/p>\n

In Hilton Head, another rabid bat was found near Headlands Drive and Oyster Rake Lane. One person was exposed and has been referred to their healthcare provider.<\/p>\n

All animals were submitted to DPH’s laboratory for testing Aug. 21, 2026, and were confirmed to have rabies Aug. 25, 2026.<\/p>\n

In 2026, the skunk is the fifth animal in Greenville County to test positive for rabies. The Beaufort bat is the second animal to test positive for rabies in the county. The bat in Greenwood is the sixth animal to test positive for rabies in the county. The bat is the third animal in Pickens County to test positive for rabies. There have been 78 cases of rabid animals statewide this year.<\/p>\n

Since 2002, South Carolina has averaged approximately 136 positive cases a year. In 2025, 10 of the 101 confirmed rabies cases in South Carolina were in Greenville County, two were in Beaufort County, three were in Greenwood County and four were in Pickens County.<\/p>\n

If you believe you, someone you know, or your pets have come in contact with this skunk, these bats, or another animal that potentially has rabies, please call DPH’s Upstate Greenville-Spartanburg office at (864) 372-3270 or the Charleston office at (843) 953-4713 during normal business hours (8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday) or after hours and on holidays at (888) 847-0902 (Select Option 2). <\/p>\n

DPH reminds people to never handle a bat or any wild or stray animal, alive or dead, with your bare hands. Any bat that could have had potential contact with people, pets, or livestock should be safely trapped<\/a> in a sealed container and not touched. Never release a bat that has potentially exposed a person or pet. Once a bat is released, it cannot be tested for rabies.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough bats can carry rabies, not every bat is infected with the virus. Bats are an important part of South Carolina’s ecosystems and deserve a healthy degree of respect just like all wild animals,\u201d said Terri McCollister, Rabies Program manager.<\/p>\n

You cannot tell if a bat, or any other animal, has rabies by simply looking at it. Rabies must be confirmed in a laboratory. Unusual behavior in bats that might indicate the animal has rabies includes daytime activity, inability to fly, and being found in places they are not usually seen, like in your home or on your lawn. An exposure is defined as direct contact (such as through broken skin or mucous membranes in the eyes, nose, or mouth) with saliva or brain\/nervous system tissue from an infected animal. Be sure to immediately wash any part of your body that may have come in contact with saliva or neural tissue with plenty of soap and water and seek medical attention.<\/p>\n

South Carolina law requires all dogs, cats, and ferrets be vaccinated against rabies and revaccinated at a frequency to provide continuous protection of the pet from rabies using a vaccine approved by DPH and licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Livestock are susceptible to rabies and all livestock that can receive USDA-approved rabies vaccinations should be vaccinated. Species for which licensed vaccines are not available (goat and swine), that have frequent contact with humans, or are considered valuable, should also be vaccinated. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rabid skunk, bats found in four South Carolina counties; numerous pets exposed GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. \u2014 Several animals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":828109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[14144,30891,33829,65451,1067,350762,45796,7474,2681,110310,75901,350763,67845,33565,36182,47909,258088,350764,97,187761,24339,350765,350770,350766,21176,46505,128590,45430,39142,72757,67844,350769,128587,350767,328597,115448,350768],"class_list":["post-828108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-animal","tag-bat","tag-beaufort-county","tag-cat","tag-cats","tag-cedar-falls-road","tag-contact","tag-dog","tag-dogs","tag-dph","tag-easley","tag-east-hill-drive","tag-fountain-inn","tag-goats","tag-greenville-county","tag-greenwood","tag-greenwood-county","tag-headlands-drive","tag-health","tag-hilton-head","tag-livestock","tag-miller-road","tag-numerous-pet","tag-oyster-rake-lane","tag-pickens-county","tag-rabid-bat","tag-rabid-skunk","tag-rabie","tag-rabies","tag-ridge-road","tag-skunk","tag-south-carolina-county","tag-south-carolina-department-of-public-health","tag-sweet-water-road","tag-terri-mccollister","tag-wyff","tag-wylie-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828108","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=828108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}