Second rabid raccoon found in Mahoning County

BOARDMAN

Residents are being urged to exercise caution around wildlife after a second rabid raccoon in Mahoning County was confirmed within a month.

Patricia Sweeney, the county’s District Board of Health commissioner, said Thursday there is no cause for alarm and the occurrence of rabies in raccoons is not rare.

“We have had this before,” Sweeney said.

She said there are no known exposures to animals or humans in this case.

The other rabid raccoon was found about a month ago in Canfield Township, Sweeney said. The more recent raccoon was found in a the vicinity of Cherry Hill Place in Boardman sometime over last weekend.

Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture did preliminary tests on the raccoon and found it had rabies. Those specimens were then sent to the Centers For Disease Control, which confirmed the presence of rabies.

Tessie Pollock, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Health, said in 2012 there were only two rabid raccoons found in the state — one in Mahoning County and one in Trumbull County.