Skunk with rabies leads to Missoula pet quarantine

 MISSOULA (AP) — Missoula County is under a 60-day quarantine after a rabid skunk was captured northwest of Missoula in an area where a woman had been bitten by a skunk, the Department of Livestock said Thursday.

Public health officials say the woman, who was bitten on Sept. 9, is undergoing rabies vaccinations.

“The skunk that bit her was acting very abnormally and aggressively,” County Environmental Health Director Jim Carlson told the Missoulian.

An area resident trapped a skunk the next day after it had an encounter with one of his dogs. The trapped skunk tested positive for rabies, but it’s not clear if it was the same skunk that bit the woman, Carlson said.

The Department of Livestock said three of four dogs that may have been exposed to the skunk were not current on their rabies shots, so they face a six-month quarantine. A group of 15 to 20 feral cats in the area will be trapped and euthanized.

The woman is expected to make a full recovery, Carlson said.

Animal Control is trapping and testing other skunks in the Harpers Bridge Road area to determine the extent of the problem.

The quarantine, which began Monday, requires that dogs, cats and ferrets be current on rabies vaccination for a minimum of 28 days before traveling outside the county.

The last case of non-bat rabies west of the Continental Divide involved a rabid skunk in Missoula County in November 1996, state officials said.