Home & Garden

Woodbridge Possum 'Acting Strangely' Not Rabid, Township Says

A possum found on Bloomfield Ave. acting strangely and walking in circles does not have rabies, Woodbridge Township said.

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — A possum found acting strangely and walking in circles does not have rabies, Woodbridge Township confirmed to Patch Thursday.

The "good-sized" possum was found by a resident on Bloomfield Avenue in Iselin Sunday morning, walking around in circles. The animal would "fall down, get up and started walking around in circles again," the resident wrote to Patch. "This went on for at least twenty minutes and did not seem normal."

The resident called Woodbridge police and Animal Control responded, who netted the possum and put it in a cage. The possum's carcass was sent to the New Jersey state lab to be tested for the rabies virus, and the results came back Thursday afternoon. It was not rabid.

Find out what's happening in Woodbridgefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Rabies in Woodbridge wild animals is not uncommon: Most recently, a raccoon acting aggressively and out in the daylight hours was trapped on May 9 near Greco Lane, and it tested positive for rabies. Last spring and summer, several raccoons and foxes in Woodbridge Twp. were found to be rabid.

Related: Raccoon With Rabies Found in Woodbridge This Week (May 12, 2017)

Find out what's happening in Woodbridgefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Wikimedia Commons image

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

More from Woodbridge