Niagara has confirmed cases of rabies in animals.
The warmer weather is approaching and humans and animals will be more active. It's important that residents learn about rabies, prevention, and what to do if an animal bites you.
Signs an animal may have rabies:
Bjorn Christensen, former director, Environmental Health speaks about rabies prevention.
Every owner or person having the care or custody of a cat, dog or ferret three months of age or over must have them immunized against rabies.
To help protect against rabies:
Rabies is transmitted through saliva from bites or scratches from infected animals. If you have been in contact with an animal that might have rabies, you should:
Your doctor will contact Public Health who will investigate the claim.
If the animal can be located, a health inspector will confine the animal for ten days to check for symptoms. We will not remove a healthy animal from the owner.
After ten days, the health inspector will return and release the animal if it's healthy, and the person who was bitten is notified that there's no risk of rabies.
If you're bitten by an animal other than a dog or cat, each situation will be risk-assessed by Public Health to determine next steps.