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Health Alert: Health Department Seeks Information About A Dog To Rule Out Rabies Infection

(Ithaca, NY – September 2, 2022) – The Tompkins County Health Department must locate a dog that bit a person on Thursday, September 1, 2022, at approximately 7 PM, in a parking lot near the corner of Campus Road and Judd Falls Rd (Ithaca).

The dog is described as a medium-to-large black dog that was being walked on a retractable leash. There were two women with the dog: one woman was walking one dog and the other woman was walking the black dog and a long-haired yellow dog.

The Department seeks to verify vaccination status and health of the biting dog through an at-home observation over a ten-day period.  If the dog can be located and observed to be healthy by the Department, the risk of rabies infection can be ruled out and rabies post-exposure treatment for the person who was bitten will not be necessary.

Anyone with information regarding this dog is urged to call the Tompkins County Environmental Health Division at (607) 274-6688. Staff are on-call at this number 24/7 to field calls related to rabies and bites.

We would like to remind the public the importance of getting bites checked as soon as possible to determine if rabies post-exposure treatment is needed. Please keep pets up-to-date on their rabies vaccinations and do not approach wildlife.

Further information can be found at: tompkinscountyny.gov/health/eh/rabies.

The Tompkins County Health Department is your partner for a healthy community.

Find us online at TompkinsCountyNY.gov/health and follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/TompkinsPublicHealth and on Twitter at @TompkinsHealth. Sign up to receive Health Department updates or other county announcements via email or text. 

For more information contact Environmental Health: Skip Parr or Cynthia Mosher at 274-6688

Media: Shannon Alvord, salvord@tompkins-co.org

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