Rabid dog dropped off at vet clinic, neighborhood on alert - WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather & Sports

Rabid dog dropped off at vet clinic, neighborhood on alert

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LEE COUNTY, AL (WTVM) -

The owner of a dog with rabies has been located by rabies officials in East Alabama. Two adults and three children in that family have been urged to get rabies treatment.

East Alabama rabies officials feared for the lives of the entire family after an abandoned dog tested positive for rabies.

Lee County rabies officials say the potentially deadly situation began Sunday night, when someone left a dog inside the fence behind the Countryside Veterinary Clinic in Opelika.

When a vet tech went to open the gate, the dog bit her on the hand.

With no way to identify the abandoned dog, the clinics vet euthanized the animal and had it tested for rabies. The test came back positive Wednesday afternoon.

The rabid dog looked like a two or three-year-old black lab and chow mix and weighed about 50 pounds. It was wearing a blue nylon collar with no tags.

The vet tech who was bitten is undergoing treatment. Countryside's vet and two other techs are also under a doctor's care because they were exposed.

Meanwhile, Dr. Bruce says Camelot neighborhoods in Opelika need to be on alert for stray animals and have their animals vaccinated since the rabid dog was in that area.

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