Rabid Raccoon Found in Old Bridge Sunday

Old Bridge, NJ - A raccoon found in someone's backyard in Old Bridge Sunday tested positive for rabies, making this the 24th rabid animal found in Middlesex County this year — and the third so far in Old Bridge.

On Sunday, December 4, the raccoon was found in the yard of an Old Bridge home, in the vicinity of Juniper Court and Washington Avenue, county health officials said. The residents brought the animal into the home.

Animal Control officers were called, who trapped the animal. The raccoon later died in Animal Control custody and was sent to the state lab for testing. It was reported on Wednesday that it tested positive for rabies. The two people who were exposed to the raccoon were given written notices to see their physicians, said the Middlesex County Office of Health Services.

Some of the scariest rabies incidents of 2016 in Central Jersey:

• In June, a raccoon was found to be acting strangely and aggressively in a Spotswood resident’s backyard. It attacked the homeowner's two dogs, and was killed. The raccoon tested positive for rabies. The dogs were monitored and quarantined. (Read that story here.)
• Also that month, a groundhog with rabies attacked a pet potbellied pig in Old Bridge Township. The groundhog was acting aggressively in an Old Bridge resident’s yard near their pet potbellied pig. The groundhog attacked the pig, and the groundhog was killed by the owner in the altercation. The pig survived the attack, but the four residents at the home were required to receive rabies post-exposure treatment. (Read that story here.)
• In February in Aberdeen Township, three people were bitten by a family pit bull that later tested positive for rabies. A fourth person was also in close contact with the dog. All four people had to receive rabies post-exposure prophylaxis. The pit bull later died of the virus. (Read that story here.)