Positive Rabies Results For Raccoon Killed in Bernardsville

The remains of a 'sickly' raccoon in a storm drain shot by a Bernardsville Police officer on May 17 have tested positive for rabies, according to the Bernards Township Health Department and Bernardsville's animal control service.

However, there is no proof that the raccoon killed in the storm drain on Seney Drive and Anderson Hill Road in Bernardsville was the same animal reported to have attacked a 6-year-old Bernardsville girl late last month who was playing in the family backyard on Somerset Avenue.

There's "no way of knowing," said Michelle Wysocki, animal control officer for the Bernards Township Health Department, the contracted health department for Bernardsville.

Heather MacDonald, mother of the 6-year-old Bernardsville girl, last week said the child had completed treatment to prevent rabies, and was doing well. At that time, she said that the family had not seen the raccoon since the attack, when it reportedly leaped unprovoked onto her daughter and bit the child.

At the request of St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center in Madison, , Wysocki said previously.

Wysocki and Becky Burton, shelter manager at St. Hubert's, confirmed on Tuesday that the dead raccoon had tested positive for rabies.

Police reports at the time were that the animal, backed into a storm drain, had been hissing at the officer.

Bernardsville Police Chief Kevin Valentine on Tuesday said the police department and health department had been notified of the rabies test results, and were preparing a joint press release.

"Unfortunately, rabies are present in local wildlife and have been for sometime," Valentine said. "This is not new news — however precautions should be taken."

Wysocki said that in the two years she had been in her position, there had been no confirmed cases of rabies in the northern Somerset communities covered by the Bernards health department.

However, she said that near the start of her time on the job, a dog in southern Morris County had come into contact with a rabid raccoon. The dog, which apparently was not up-to-date on rabies shots, had to be quarantined for six months although it ultimately did not contract the virus, she said.

Wysocki said the test results reinforce the need to have all pets, dogs or cats, kept current with rabies shots.

Kim Saunders, vice president of operations and communications for St. Hubert's, agreed that all pets, indoors or outdoors, should be vaccinated, since pet owners don't always know whether their animals have been exposed.

Leave wildlife alone

Both Saunders and Wysocki agreed that the incident also is a reminder not to approach or come into contact with wildlife. Saunders said that people who observe wildlife behaving aggressively or strangely can contact, in Bernardsville, St. Hubert's at 973-377-2295, or the borough police at 908-766-0037.

In Bernards Township, residents can call her office at 908-204-3066, Wysocki said.

Both also agreed that seeing a raccoon outdoors during daylight hours is not necessarily an indication that the animal is sick. A mother raccoon might be foraging for food for babies in the spring, Wysocki said.

Asked if the diseased raccoon may have affected wildlife in the area, Wysocki said, "anything is possible," but that many times the animals died fairly quickly after becoming infected.

Burton said that the state has reported rabies in 21 New Jersey counties.