Five residents of Gilmer County, Ga., are being treated after exposure and possible exposure to rabies in separate July 4 incidents involving a raccoon and a bat, according to a news release from the Georgia Department of Public Health.
The first incident occurred mid-morning Saturday. A couple in their Mountain Creek Hollow subdivision of Talking Rock was attacked by a raccoon. The animal bit and scratched the wife on her leg. As the husband was fending off the raccoon, he also was scratched. The couple went to the hospital immediately, according to the release.
The raccoon then attacked an owner of a nearby home, who kicked it. Two neighbors who were searching for the animal saw the raccoon run out of the garage of the home and shot and killed it.
The raccoon was given to Andrea Martin, manager of Gilmer County Environmental Health, for rabies testing on Monday. On Tuesday, tests came back confirming the raccoon had rabies, she said.
Also on July 4, an incident involving a bat took place in the Coosawattee River Resort community. A man on his front porch discovered a bat in a recessed lighting fixture. He tried to shoo the animal away with a broom, Martin said in the release, but the bat didn’t move. When the man’s son turned on the light, the bat flew out of the fixture to the back of the house.