All mammals, including humans, can be infected with the rabies virus.
In California, bats and skunks are the animals that most often get rabies, but rabies is sometimes found in other wild animals, such as foxes and raccoons.
Dogs and cats can also get rabies, but this is not as common as in wildlife because most of our cats and dogs are vaccinated against rabies.
Birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish cannot get rabies
In the United States, cats are two times more likely to contract rabies than dogs or cattle. Bats, skunks, raccoons, coyotes and foxes are the common carriers of rabies in wildlife.
Each year in California, rabies is found in about 200 mostly wild animals. Rabies infects very few humans in California, or the United States for that matter.
Since 1980, rabies has been reported in 15 people in California. There have been no reported cases of rabies in our domestic animals or wildlife in Santa Barbara County in 2023.
Rabies Symptoms
- A wild animal that seems unusually tame or isn’t afraid to approach people
- An animal out during the day that is usually active only at night, such as a skunk, fox or bat
- A pet that has trouble walking, eating or drinking, or has a change in personality or how it acts
- A normally calm animal that acts in an agitated or aggressive manner
- A bat that can’t fly or has been caught by a dog or cat
Bite Protection, for Yourself and Pets
- Leave all wild animals alone. Do not approach, touch or try to feed any animals that you don’t know.
- Never adopt or bring wild animals into your home. Contact a wildlife rehabilitation facility if you are concerned that a wild animal needs care.
- Remove food that attracts wild animals by keeping garbage in closed, secure containers, and don’t leave pet food outside overnight.
- Seal holes or gaps in your home where bats and other animals could enter.
- Take extra care to avoid animals when traveling abroad, especially dogs in developing countries, as rabies in dogs is common in some countries.
- Always ask permission before you approach or try to pet another person’s dog that you don’t know.
- Keep pet cats indoors as much as possible. Indoor cats are less likely to have contact with wildlife that might have rabies.
- If you take your pets off your property, keep them on a leash and under your control at all times.
Every year, the Agriculture Department drops millions of oral rabies vaccines across 14 states, mostly along the Eastern Seaboard. Oral rabies vaccination has been in use in the United States since 1990, in Canada since 1985, and in Europe since 1980.
Currently, there are 16 states distributing oral vaccines for raccoons in the United States. Texas distributes baits for gray foxes and coyotes.
The oral rabies vaccines are distributed by airplane. In suburban and urban areas, they’ll arrive by helicopter or vehicle to be deposited by hand in designated bait stations, such as garbage cans and dumpsters.
These rabies vaccines are edible pellets covered in fishmeal and sweet flavors to attract raccoons, foxes, coyotes and skunks. When an animal bites the pellet, the rabies vaccine packet opens into the animal’s mouth and it is vaccinated.
The program covers tens of thousands of square miles.
The oral vaccine, has been found to be safe in over 60 animal species. This includes domestic dogs and cats. Dogs that eat large number of the vaccines may have stomach ache, but they won’t have any long-term health consequences, according to the USDA.
Rabies is one of the deadliest diseases on the planet. Once clinical signs appear, the disease is almost always fatal.
It is a vaccine-preventable viral disease that occurs in more than 150 countries and territories. It causes 60,000 deaths every year, mainly in Asia, India and Africa — with 40% of the deaths occurring in children under age 15.
More than 99% of the cases are contracted from street dogs in countries where dog vaccination programs are not sufficiently developed to stop the spread of the virus. Rabies can be prevented through vaccination of dogs and prevention of dog bites, according to the World Health Organization.
Since the disease is preventable in Africa and Asia when 70% of dogs are vaccinated regularly, the global focus needs to be on decreasing the cost of vaccinating dogs and increasing access.
The College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University runs rabies vaccination programs currently in Kenya and Tanzania. They focus on scientific research and in-country program development to enable more communities to be reached with vaccination campaigns in the most cost-effective manner. Vaccines are transported to remote villages even by drones.
The WSU Paul G. Allen School for Global Health is working with international partners to eliminate rabies as a cause of human suffering and death by 2030 as part of the “Zero by 30” campaign launched by the World Health Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, and the Food and Agriculture Organization.