By JONATHAN J. COOPER
Cronkite News Service
Matthew Harrison’s two dogs love to run in the forest outside his home. But on this day they are in a fenced dog park, and their romps among the pines are out for now.
Citing a sharp increase in rabies cases, the Coconino County Board of Supervisors this week approved a three-month quarantine for dogs and cats across much of Flagstaff.
Pets must be kept on leashes or confined to enclosed areas.
Harrison said he understands the need to protect pets and people from rabies, but he wishes there were a less-onerous way to do it.
“It seems like they might be able to do things in a way that wouldn’t have quite the impact on pets,” he said. “It’s not rocket science.”
Officials acknowledge it’s a bigger challenge for owners of cats that are used to wandering outdoors.
“Keeping cats confined is not an easy task, but perhaps cats are even more likely to have interactions with wildlife than dogs are,” said Barbara Worgess, director of the Coconino County Health Department.
She said the circumstances warrant an aggressive response, including the fourth quarantine of cats and dogs here in the past eight years. Since Oct. 31, officials have confirmed 21 cases of rabies in wild animals around Flagstaff; there usually are two or three cases in that period.
“It’s very clear that we have a serious problem,” Worgess said.
Rabies, a viral disease that attacks the central nervous system, is spread most commonly through bites from infected animals. It’s always fatal in humans once symptoms appear, but rabies can be prevented in exposed individuals through prompt administration of shots. There is no such treatment for pets.
In past rabies outbreaks around Flagstaff, most of the infected animals were skunks. But more than half of the latest cases involved foxes, some of which have been found along hiking trails.
In the past two weeks, one man has been bitten by a fox, and a rabid skunk latched onto a child’s pant leg but did not break skin, Worgess said.
Rabies cases are at unprecedented levels statewide, said Craig Levy, program manager for vector-borne diseases at the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Officials have captured 82 rabid animals so far this year, compared with 32 for the same period last year. The 176 cases documented in 2008 set a record, and officials say Arizona is on track for even more in 2009.
“We have rabies way above what would be considered normal for Arizona, so people should be taking it seriously,” Levy said.
Coconino County’s response also includes placing bait packets with rabies vaccine in areas where rabid foxes have been found. Animal control officers will capture dogs and cats found loose, and residents are forbidden to leave pet food outside after sundown.
Owners must vaccinate dogs and cats for rabies. While most dogs already are vaccinated because state law requires canine rabies shots, many cats don’t get them, Worgess said.
Pet owners have waited up to three hours for discounted rabies shots during recent emergency vaccination clinics at the Second Chance Center for Animals, said Melissa Leair, marketing manager for the nonprofit animal shelter.
“It really brings out the fear in people,” she said.
Worgess said rabies in wildlife is particularly troublesome around Flagstaff because the city is surrounded by wilderness and wildlife.
“People may not love it, especially cat owners, but we’ve found people do tend to comply with the restrictions,” she said.
