Earlier this week health officials announced a young Jacksonville girl had been bitten by a rabid fox. Now a woman from a sister city said she had a rabid bat in her house back in may.
The news that Patricia Salinas found a rabid bat in her home three months ago may have alerted Calhoun County residents to be on the lookout for more rabid animals in their community.
Found rabid bat in home, Patricia Salinas talks to her dog, "He's not going to hurt you."
Salinas considers her five year old dog Sparkie a four legged member of the family. She also considers him a hero after he alerted her when a bat came into the house.
Salinas said, "He was up here."
Frightened about her dog's health, she took the bat to her vet, he in turn sent it to the state health department for testing.
Salinas said, "They euthanized the bat and sent it off and this was on a Thursday. Tuesday, I got a call from Montgomery, saying the bat was 100% rabid."
Fortunately, neither Patricia nor Sparkie needed rabies shots. Since the bat incident, Patricia and her grandchildren don't come out to their pool after dusk, afraid of what might happen. But Patricia would have liked to have warned others.
Salinas said, "It would have given people time to take extra precaution, was the fox incident related, I can't say that it wasn't."
That little girl was bitten by a rabid fox in Weaver's sister city-Jacksonville. Now after that incident, Patricia wants everyone to know to be cautious.
Salinas said, "I don't want to scare anyone to death, not my intention to create a panic but children need protection."
Patricia told me she left messages for Weaver's mayor, Gary Bearden about the rabid bat, but her calls weren't returned.
I talked to Bearden this afternoon who said he remembered talking to Patricia. After we confirmed she had a rabid bat, he said he was "...sorry, he didn't take it more seriously" and believes the community should be alerted about the rabid bat.
I also talked to the family with the little girl who was bitten by the fox in Jacksonville. They're all doing fine, but the little girl and her parents must all go through a series of rabies shots that will last for the next month.
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