Los Angeles County Animal Control and Department of Public Health officials have reported another rabid bat in Santa Clarita.
Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking Santa Clarita news alerts delivered right to your inbox.
What rhymes with “cat” and hisses like a cat when you approach it, but isn’t a cat?
You’ve got it. It’s a rabid bat.
Granted, most rabid bats don’t hiss at you; most stumble around like they’re drunk. But this one hissed.
Related: Ninth Rabid Bat Of The Season Turns Up In Newhall, Third In SCV
Los Angeles County‘s fourteenth rabid bat of the season turned up this month in front of somebody’s garage in Newhall. According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials, it hissed when it was approached.
It was the sixth rabid bat to be identified so far this year in the Santa Clarita Valley, and with six of the county’s 14 rabid bats (43 percent), the SCV continues to be the county leader in rabies – as it has been the last four years, when incidents of rabies infection started a dramatic climb.
Health officials can’t explain the uptick, but recent years have seen more than 40 infected bats annually across the county. There always used to be only 8 to 10 a year, at least since they started tracking such things in the early 1960s.
Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.
Bats are the most common carriers of rabies, but most bats are disease-free. Fewer than 1 percent are infected.
Remember, if you see a bat flying around during the daytime, or bothering the family pet, or staggering around on the ground like a drunkard, or dead – don’t touch it.
In fact, what the heck. If a bat appears to be perfectly healthy, don’t touch it.
Instead call Animal Control at 661-257-3191 and let them touch it. Let your tax dollars work for you.
[node:title]
Article: [node:title]
Source: Santa Clarita News
Author: [node:author]