Los Angeles County health officials are reminding residents and their pets to keep a safe distance from wild animals after confirming the first rabid raccoon case in the county in more than 50 years. The discovery was made in a Westlake Village backyard.
The sick raccoon, found recently on a Monday, was not aggressive toward people, a behavior commonly associated with rabies-infected animals. Nevertheless, its presence led to potential exposures for "a few people" at a nearby worksite and a dog. The dog was current on its rabies vaccine, according to the Los Angeles County Public Health Department.
As a precaution, four individuals from the worksite are now receiving rabies post-exposure prophylaxis. This treatment can involve a dose of human rabies immune globulin along with a rabies vaccine, as detailed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The exposed dog is currently under quarantine and is reportedly doing well.
Dr. Muntu Davis, health officer for Los Angeles County, emphasized the importance of caution around wildlife. "Never touch, handle, or feed any wild animals, even when they appear healthy," Dr. Davis said, adding that residents should maintain a safe distance and contact local animal control if they encounter an animal that appears sick, injured, or behaving unusually.
This raccoon marks a significant milestone in local public health records. The last known rabid raccoon in Los Angeles County was detected back in 1973. At that time, a specific skunk variant of rabies was still present in the area, a strain that has not been found in the county since 1979. More recently, the last animal confirmed to have rabies that wasn’t a bat was a skunk, infected with the bat strain, found in Long Beach in 2014.
Public health officials are currently investigating which particular rabies strain infected the Westlake Village raccoon. While variant testing is expected to take several weeks, officials believe the source is likely local bats. Public health officials stated in a news release that "it is likely this raccoon was infected with rabies from a bat."
Rabies exposure in Los Angeles County is indeed more frequently linked to infected bats. Over the past decade, the county has observed a steady upward trend in rabid bat detections. So far this year, a record-breaking 70 rabid bats have been confirmed in Los Angeles County.
While experts advise caution, the risk of humans contracting rabies remains very low. The California Department of Public Health notes that rabies is a rare but serious disease capable of infecting the brains of both people and animals, transmissible through a bite or any contact where saliva or infected tissue enters the body. In California, bats and skunks are the animals most often found with rabies. Nationally, fewer than 10 human deaths are reported annually, and since 1980, only 17 people in California have been reported with rabies, with the most recent case in 2024.
The situation serves as a tangible reminder that even in urbanized Southern California, wildlife interactions carry potential, if rare, risks. Keeping a respectful distance from all wild animals remains the simplest and most effective precaution.
