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Central Park: You Are Safe From Rabid Raccoons, <em>For Now</em>
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jul 1, 2010
Modified Jul 1, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jul 1, 2010
Modified Jul 1, 2010
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Back in December the Bad Old Days had returned in Central Park, but this time it wasn't the threat of man that concerned locals, it was animal! The number of rabid raccoons had gotten out of control, and an official warning was put out by the Department of Health. And since the city's population isn't foaming at the mouth now, we can only assume that we dodged some I Am Legend style outbreak, right? Right! According to the Daily News, the vaccination program the DoH instituted may have just worked.
Bob Marino, the head of the NY Council of Dog Owners group, told the paper, "We haven't heard of any new official or anecdotal reports of incidents with dogs or people in the park, and we definitely would have heard. I think the spate [of cases] last year made the city more responsive. They did a remarkable job, because capturing these things is not easy." Indeed, between February and April 237 raccoons were trapped, vaccinated and released, others that appeared ill were euthanized, while some were found dead.
Currently no rabid raccoons have been spotted in the park for 3 weeks—and to put that number in perspective, back in April approximately 11 were found every week. But are we really safe? Because those opposums have been eerily quiet as of late...
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central park
doh
rabid raccoons
rabies
raccoons
vaccination
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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