We've had many incidences lately where rabies exposure protocol has had to be utilized and scrutinized. Basically, no one wins when a bite occurs, whether it involves a human victim or not.
My first story is still in progress, but it's been a doozy so far and should be resolved today.
Two huskies were picked up by animal control Friday morning. They had killed a raccoon, the owner was on her way and the raccoon had been sent off for testing. We were informed of this case specifically to ensure that everything was done correctly. If proof of current rabies vaccination was shown, the dogs could receive boosters and go home. If not, the owner would have to arrange six month quarantine or the dogs would be euthanized.
The owner showed up around 10:30 AM with rabies certificates from one of our rabies clinics. The vaccinations were given in October of 2011. One dog had received a one-year vaccination and the other received a three-year vaccination. I informed the owner that she could reclaim one dog after it got a booster, but she couldn't reclaim the other. She basically cried the whole time and left with her one dog.
Around 5:15 PM, she returned and handed my coworker a piece of paper. My coworker was leaving, so she handed her over to me. The piece of paper was a photocopy of the same rabies vaccination certificate that she had shown me 7 hours earlier, but the dates and tag number had been obviously altered. The weight of the ink and the handwriting was different than the rest of the certificate, and the white-out borders were visible.
"...Do you have the original certificate that you showed me this morning?"
"No."
"I'm sorry, but this one has been obviously altered. I cannot accept it."
"Ok."
Had I thought of it, I would have made a copy of the copy and kept it as proof. Altering a public health records is a serious issue. Had someone else seen it and reclaimed her dog to her, she could be responsible for releasing rabies into the general public.
By the way, the raccoon tested positive.
..............
Another case that's ongoing. There have been numerous parties involved in this case, and it's pretty annoying to be yelled at from so many different sides, when the most reasonable response to 80% of the people is, "It's really none of your damn business."
A dog was brought in as a stray bite dog. When informed that the dog could not be rehomed, the finder said that she was the owner, even though she had only had the dog for a couple days.
Now, we're getting messages from fosters saying that the dog has been "set up to fail", others asking "what we can do", the neighbor coming in and being super pushy, meanwhile everyone is scrambling to try and find a legal way to get the dog out the front door. Believe me, we don't just let things go. We may get yelled at by management for getting "too involved", but none of us want these animals to die and we work as hard as we can to find any other options.
There are no notes on the bite, but by all accounts the dog is very nice (and otherwise adoptable). But no one realizes what a legal mess that these types of cases cause. His hold was up Friday, but we're keeping him until this gets resolved, which might be tricky because we just learned the "owner" is in Arizona right now.
.....................
A family came in the other day to visit their dog that had "come into contact" with a groundhog. The groundhog had been sent out for testing but the brainstem had been compromised and the test was inconclusive. I informed them that bite dogs cannot be visited without an animal control officer escort, and they got upset and said that they had been told they could come visit. "Well, yes, if the officer goes with you." The woman then goes on about how they had been getting the run around from everyone and couldn't get a straight answer from anyone and blah blah blah.
Hey, lady, whose fault is it that your dog attacked a groundhog? Did WE put the little critter in your yard and then release your dog? No. We're just here, doing our job, trying to keep you and the community safe. So stop bitching and go home and knit a sweater. You can pick your dog up in 10 days.
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