At this time last year, Dr. Charles Church of the West Texas Veterinarian Clinic had only had one skunk test positive for rabies. This year he has already seen a lot more.
“I sent off five skunks and all five tested positive for rabies,” he said.
Inside the city, the increase is rather dramatic as well.
“We’ve seen tons of skunks so far this year,” said Hope Carrillo, Snyder animal control warden. “During this time last year we saw 14 dead skunks and 11 that were alive. This year we’ve seen 29 dead skunks and 21 that were alive.”
None of the skunks found inside the city limits have tested positive for rabies, but that doesn’t mean there is not a lot of danger for pets and livestock if they come in contact with a skunk.
Carrillo said that if an animal is bitten or scratched by a skunk they have to be quarantined until results on the skunk are known.
Neither Church nor Carrillo knows why there is such a severe increase in the number of cases of rabies although Church speculates that the vaccine that was placed in food in the wild a few years ago may be wearing out.
Church said that most of the skunks he has seen from the county have been because of encounters with pets and other animals.<\n> “Several times we have seen where dogs have gotten in fights with a skunk and killed it but then the dog had to be quarantined,” he said.
Both Church and Carrillo said the most important thing for those with animals, both pets and livestock, is to get them vaccinated. That is the way to make sure that an incidental encounter doesn’t cost the life of a valuable animal.
Carrillo also said that any people who have come in contact with skunks or other animals that could be rabid is to seek treatment immediately.
“Symptoms won’t show up for a while, and by the time they do, it’s too late for treatment. Untreated rabies is always fatal,” she said.
Anyone seeing a skunk should contact law enforcement officials, so that the wild animals can be captured or destroyed to help stop the potential spread of rabies, she said.