This disease is also caused by a virus and is carried primarily by foxes and skunks; however raccoons, opossums, mink and bobcats are often infected. This disease is virtually 100 percent fatal, with only one case on record of a human ever surviving. This disease is spread by contact with saliva of the infected animal and can be contacted by all species of animals, domestic and wild, including people. An animal in the last stages of rabies often will froth at the mouth, due to paralyzed nerves in the throat preventing swallowing. Death finally comes when the diaphragm becomes paralyzed and the animal or human suffocate. You cannot tell by an animal's looks if it has rabies or not. Infected animals in the terminal stage of rabies may have either "furious" or 'dumb" rabies. In the "furious" stage the animal acts crazy and may attack anything from a tree to an elephant without being provoked. In the "dumb" stage the animal may act tame and be able to be handled. Often wild and elusive animals such as foxes or coyotes will walk right into backyards or groups of people and appear totally unafraid. You see, you cannot tell by an animal's looks if it has rabies or not. Rabies is one of the most dread diseases of man.

This is a picture of a rabid fox's head. The fox, in the "furious" stage has attacked a porcupine, something only a rabid fox would do

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Credit to Robert Wendt, D.V.M.,
and photographers of the
Conservation Education Division
and the Pathology and Rabies Control Section
of the Delmar Wildlife Laboratory.