{"id":10109,"date":"2015-12-03T12:29:49","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T17:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=10109"},"modified":"2015-12-03T12:34:18","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T17:34:18","slug":"httpwww-thevalleyledger-comp1904-107","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=10109","title":{"rendered":"*** Public Safety Announcement *** RABID CAT FOUND IN CITY"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Allentown Health Bureau is alerting residents that rabies is present in the community after two stray cats recently tested positive for the disease.<\/p>\n<p>Each cat had been brought to the Lehigh County Humane Society by a citizen who had found them.\u00a0 In both cases the cat was sent for rabies testing to the Pennsylvania Department of Health Bureau of Laboratories after exhibiting aggressive behavior, including the biting and scratching of people who had handled them.<\/p>\n<p>One cat was found on Baker Drive on the south side of Allentown and the other was picked up along Vera Cruz Road in southern Lehigh County.\u00a0 \u201cWhile rabies has been seen locally in wild animals, such as skunks, raccoons and bats, rabid cats are a rare occurrence within the city,\u201d according to Associate Director of Health Jeff Stout.<\/p>\n<p>As of December 3, Health Bureau investigators have identified 19 individuals, including 11 in one family, who had been exposed to the rabid cats.\u00a0 Each is undergoing a series of post-exposure vaccinations and is under medical care.<\/p>\n<p>Stout urges residents to never feed or touch stray or wild animals, and keep their pets\u2019 rabies vaccinations up to date through a licensed veterinarian.\u00a0 Feeding wild animals makes them less afraid of people and brings large numbers of animals into small areas which increases the risk of transmission of disease to humans and pets.\u00a0 Unvaccinated pets are at risk of infection, which also puts owners or family members at risk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take these precautions to prevent rabies:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vaccinate your pets against rabies. Rabies shots need to be boosted, so check your pet\u2019s records or talk to your veterinarian<\/li>\n<li>When walking or hiking with your dog, protect them and wildlife by keeping your dog on a leash<\/li>\n<li>Keep cats and other pets inside to reduce the risk of exposure to wildlife and other domestic animals. Keep dogs within your sight (in a fenced yard, or on leash) during the day while outside<\/li>\n<li>Contact your veterinarian promptly if you believe your pet has been exposed to a wild animal<\/li>\n<li>Do not touch or feed wild animals. Wild animals like skunks and foxes adapt to residential environments if food is available \u2013 please don\u2019t leave pet food outdoors<\/li>\n<li>If you or a family member is bitten or scratched by a wild or unknown animal, call your doctor and Animal Control at <a href=\"tel:610-437-7535\">610-437-7535<\/a><\/li>\n<li>If you encounter a lost or stray dog or cat, contact the City of Allentown Animal Control office at <a href=\"tel:610-437-7535\">610-437-7535<\/a> Monday-Friday from 8am to 4:30pm or the Lehigh County Humane Society after hours and on weekends and holidays at <a href=\"tel:610-791-1112\">610-791-1112<\/a><\/li>\n<li>For more information on rabies go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/rabies\/\">http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/rabies\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0Information Provided By:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>MIKE MOORE<br \/>\nCOMMUNICATIONS MANAGER<br \/>\nMayor&#8217;s Office<br \/>\n435 Hamilton Street<br \/>\nAllentown, PA 18101<br \/>\nMike.Moore@allentownpa.gov<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.allentownpa.gov\" target=\"_blank\">www.allentownpa.gov<\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><div class='adkingprobanner sidebar banner3023'><a href='http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/' target=\"_blank\" data-id='3023' data-ga='{\"campaign\":\"\",\"banner\":\"\",\"implemented\":\"universal\",\"imp_action\":\"Impression\",\"click_action\":\"Click\"}'><img src='https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/inpostblank.jpg' alt='' \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><div class='adkingprobanner sidebar banner7036'><a href='http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com' target=\"_blank\" data-id='7036' data-ga='{\"campaign\":\"\",\"banner\":\"\",\"implemented\":\"universal\",\"imp_action\":\"Impression\",\"click_action\":\"Click\"}'><img src='https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/inpostblank.jpg' alt='' \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?post_type=adverts_posts&p=7036\" class=\"read-more\">Click here to read more... <\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0346.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}