BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer
BRICK – A local veterinarian and one of his employees are being administered rabies shots after handling a cat found in a Brick neighborhood that tested positive for the virus, Ocean County health officials said.
A Foxcroft Street resident alerted the Jersey Shore Animal Center on May 4 that the gray-and-white stray cat he had been feeding appeared ill, said Heather Cammisa, the center’s executive director.
“The concern here is people might go up to it because it’s a cat,” Cammisa said. “People are more likely to approach a stray cat rather than a wild animal.”
Jersey Shore Animal Center is contracted with the town to provide animal control services.
“We picked up the cat … and we took it immediately to vet,” she said. “The vet said it needed to be euthanized. It was so sickly.”
The cat was euthanized May 4, but the center wasn’t notified the stray tested positive for rabies until May 10, she said.
Two local schools – Veterans Elementary and Veterans Middle schools on Hendrickson Avenue – located about a block from the street where the animal was found, were notified of the find the same day, Cammisa said.
Animal control officers also notified adjacent neighbors on nearby streets, she said.
“We haven’t checked every household in the entire region,” she said. “We have talked with neighbors. We talked with people in the area. We did our part in notifying people.”
Although nine animals have tested positive for rabies in Ocean County since Jan. 1, the cat is the first animal to test positive for rabies in Brick, said county Health Department spokesman Edward Rumen.
Rabid skunks have been found in Lacey and Jackson; raccoons with rabies have been found in Toms River, Jackson, Manchester and Tuckerton, Rumen said.
Cammisa urged pet owners to keep their dogs and cats inside. She discouraged cat owners from allowing their pets to be “outside cats.”
“They’re not indigenous to this area and should not be outside,” she said.
“If a cat is the type that does like to wander outside, go outside with it during these times,” said Rumen.
Although residents may feed strays because they feel bad for the animals, they should be cognizant that sometimes feeding an animal may constitute ownership of that animal and could legally bind the caregiver to the animal, Rumen said.
“A past association may establish ownership, whether it’s yours or not,” he said.
Pet owners should make sure their animals’ inoculations are up-to-date, Cammisa said.
Anyone who sees an animal acting disoriented or as if they’re drunk should not go near it. Instead, call the Jersey Shore Animal Center at (732) 920-1600.
Informational fliers on rabies are available at the animal shelter on Beaverson Boulevard.
The Ocean County Health Department number is (732) 341-9700.