How to protect yourself and your pets from rabid skunks
With the number of rabid skunks skulking around Denver on the rise, the Foothills Animal Shelter is warning pet owners to get their animals’ rabies vaccinations upto-date.
Twenty-one rabid skunks have been found in Denver in the past month, according to Denver Animal Protection. At least one rabid skunk has been reported in Jefferson County, according to a news release from Foothills Animal Shelter.
At the beginning of March, Denver Animal Protection reported nine rabid skunks lurking around southwest Denver.
When rabies — a virus that affects the nervous system of humans and other mammals — is found in wildlife, the risk of transmitting the disease to humans and other mammals increases dramatically, the animal shelter said.
Rabies contraction takes place through bites and scratches, and the virus is “almost always fatal,” the animal shelter said.
Foothills Animal Shelter in Golden offers “affordable weekly rabies vaccines” every Friday from 4 to 5:30 p.m. and the first Saturday of the month from 9 to 10:30 a.m.
To avoid exposure to rabies, the animal shelter shared several tips including avoiding contacting with wild animals, leashing dogs, keeping cats indoors and vaccinating them, not leaving pet food outside and reporting wildlife that appears to be infected.
Animals that have rabies could exhibit the following symptoms: a change in behavior like sudden aggression, confusion or lack of fear around people; staggering, trembling or weakness; or being out during the day when typically nocturnal like skunks, foxes and bats.