A few weeks ago the city’s health department warned residents of Bensonhurt that their neighborhood was on the precipice of a rabies outbreak. Now the spread of the fatal disease is serious enough that wildlife biologists are headed to Brooklyn and Queens to try and stop its spread.
Back on August 21, DNAInfo reported that a dead raccoon found in the Brooklyn neighborhood had tested positive for rabies. The raccoon was possibly infecting feral cats and the Department of Health sent notice to residents to be alert and even councilman Mark Teryger added to the rabies hysteria by telling his constituents to pay extra attention when they, presumably, left their houses.
There have been 10 animals that have tested positive for rabies this year, according to the New York Daily News. In order to combat a larger outbreak, federal officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as scientists from Cornell will roam Brooklyn and Queens, dropping “fish-scented bait packets,” in wooded areas. The packets contain a rabies vaccine. If any pets come in contact with it the good news is they won’t die, the bad is it’s likely to cause vomiting if more than a packet is ingested.
There haven’t been any reported cases of humans contracting rabies in New York City in 50 years.
(Original photo:wikimedia )
