Officials urge residents to keep an eye on their pets and update their vaccinations.
By Terry Karkos
Staff Writer

RUMFORD – Officials are moving quickly to stem any problems associated with a rabid skunk that bit a Waldo Street resident’s dog Sunday afternoon.

In that incident in the 400 neighborhood of Waldo Street, a resident called police at 3:52 p.m., saying that a skunk was attacking her dog in the back yard.

According to responding officers Paul Casey and Sgt. Stacy Carter, the homeowner got her dog away from the skunk, which then began pacing back and forth between back yards.

“The animal came across the back yard on a couple of occasions,” said Carter, who was armed with a department issue shotgun containing birdshot.

An unsuccessful attempt was made to contact Paul Cayer, the local animal damage control agent, but he was away at work, Carter added.

Until the skunk began digging in the back yard, the two officers, who had gotten a large box, were looking for an opportunity to catch the critter. But when it presented a safe target and a clear path to shoot, Carter killed the animal with one round of low brass birdshot, his report stated.

The skunk was then double bagged, placed in the box and retrieved by animal control officer Marsha McKenna for transport to the Maine Department of Human Services Health and Environmental Testing Lab for a rabies test.

According to Carter, the skunk was found to be rabid. As a result, police are advising residents to be mindful of their pets at all times as well as to be watchful of wild animals showing up in their yards during daytime hours.

“Be aware of where your pets are,” said Sgt. Stacy Carter. “If you have any wild animals that show up during the daytime and are acting suspicious, do not touch them. Instead call the police.”

Carter advised the homeowner to quarantine her dog and check with her veterinarian about getting a rabies booster shot. McKenna, however, told the homeowner she had two immediate choices to make: either quarantine her dog for six months or put it to sleep.

That’s because the bitten canine’s rabies vaccination had expired eight months ago. Because there are other people in the house and other pets, McKenna said she urged the homeowner to take her cats to a veterinarian to be revaccinated and quarantine them as well, away from the dog.

Since the incident, a neighbor called with concerns, prompting McKenna to urge homeowners in the vicinity of the 400 section of Waldo Street, Falmouth Street, residences along the Mexico-Rumford Swift River area, the ballfield, Maple Street and Mountain Valley High School to give their pets a rabies booster shot.

“We can’t mess around with this, because I don’t know how long the skunk had been in contact with (rabies),” she said. That’s why if McKenna finds any stray cats, especially those without identification tags or even felines with such tags that aren’t immediately claimed by their owners within two to three days, they will be put to sleep.

“If your pet’s rabies vaccination expires today and your animal comes in contact with a rabies-infected animal tomorrow, it’s infected. Get your cats boosted if you can’t guarantee where your animals are on a 24-hour basis. I will not mess around with strays found in that area. They will be put to sleep,” McKenna added.

If a pet’s rabies shots are up to date and the pet is bitten by a rabid animal, it would only need to be quarantined for 45 days, she noted.

Although a dog was bitten by a rabid skunk in Sunday’s case, McKenna said she mainly wanted to alert cat owners to the dangers their pets and they themselves may be facing because most dogs, unlike cats, aren’t at large.

“There are no leash laws on cats. Any cats not owned will be put down. If anyone cares about their cats, get them collars, IDs and boosters,” McKenna added.

Because she handles pets at her McKennel’s Animal Adoption Agency on Hall Hill Road in South Rumford, McKenna said she herself would be getting a rabies shot booster.

Animal damage control officer Paul Cayer said the most recent rabies cases in Rumford were in the summer of 1997 when a rabid fox bit a puppy at Rumford Point and a bat was found in a house on Hancock Street.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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