Goat tests positive for rabies in Efland

Chapel Hill, N.C. — Orange County Animal Services said Thursday that a black and white Lamancha goat tested positive for rabies – the first reported case this year.

A veterinarian euthanized the animal after a resident in Efland, near Brookhollow Road and Bane Road, noticed the animal behaving strangely earlier this week.

Results Wednesday from the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health confirmed the animal tested positive for the disease.

A second goat is being held in quarantine, officials said.

Although it's rare that a goat would bite and spread the disease, the Orange County Health Department wants anyone who might have had contact recently with the animal to call 919-245-2343.

Last year, according to Animal Services, the county had 12 reported cases of rabies. The last reported case was in Efland in November.

A low-cost rabies vaccination clinic for pets will be held Saturday, Jan. 26 from 9 a.m. until noon at the Animal Services Center, 1601 Eubanks Road in Chapel Hill.

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Reader X - Sorry you had that experience but that's not the way our Animal Control and Wildlife folks work in my area. You even say the word "rabies" and they'll be there to pick up the carcass in a flash. Perhaps we have a looser definition of "attacking" because we normally don't wait for the animal to actually go after someone or another animal before handling it. You did the right thing.

Relic
January 18, 2013 4:51 p.m.

Are thse the kind of goats some people eat?

Barfly
January 18, 2013 12:38 p.m.

Raw milk anyone?

hardycitrus
January 18, 2013 11:16 a.m.

I had a fox the other day that I suspected rabies and I called every authority I could and no one wanted to come out and kill the fox and have it tested. I even offered to kill it and bring it somewhere so it could be tested, they still didn't want it. I was told the only time an animal is tested for rabies is if it is in the process of attacking someone- then they will come out. So I shot the fox and disposed of the body myself because it was a threat to my neighbor hood and my animals. So don't believe the # of reported cases- I'm sure there are more out there.