Crazed raccoon viciously attacks family’s cat, prompting countywide alert
Mecklenburg County animal control officials issued a countywide alert after a rabid raccoon viciously attacked a family’s cat in their yard east of Mint Hill and Interstate 485.
Wednesday’s incident prompted an appeal Friday by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Animal Care & Control division to make sure pets are current on their rabies vaccine.
The cat that was attacked by the raccoon in the family’s yard on Alexis Drive was current on its rabies vaccine. Its injuries, however, were too severe for it to survive and it was “humanely euthanized,” Animal Care & Control officials said in a news release.
Animal Care & Control officials have not divulged who killed the raccoon or how, but said in the release that the critter tested positive for the potentially fatal disease.
The Mecklenburg County Health Department also sent an alert on Friday night to residents of the Alexis Drive neighborhood.
“North Carolina’s rabies law requires that all owned dogs, cats and ferrets must be vaccinated against rabies by four months of age,” according to the Animal Care & Control news release.
People infected with rabies “exhibit signs of hyperactivity, excitable behavior, hydrophobia (fear of water) and sometimes aerophobia (fear of drafts or of fresh air),” according to the World Health Organization. “Death occurs after a few days due to cardio-respiratory arrest.”
The Animal Care & Control division said in its news release that Mecklenburg County pets can be inoculated against rabies at a free clinic from 8 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. on the second Saturday of each month at the group’s 8315 Byrum Drive shelter. The clinic also offers $10 microchips and free pet I.D. tags.
This story was originally published March 9, 2019 at 5:07 PM.