THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609130239
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARK YOUNG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 83 lines
What cute little kittens. That's what Linda Thompson of Narbonne Court in Salem Woods thought when she went into her back yard to see what her children were making such a fuss over.
The children had found a wild mother cat and her eight kittens.
Seeing Thompson, the mother cat and four of the kittens bolted, and the remaining four kittens hid themselves behind a fence.
Thompson instructed her three children to leave the animals alone until the mother came back, but when she didn't return, Thompson and a neighbor went to retrieve them.
One kitten, ``a pretty one with piercing baby blue eyes,'' as Thompson described it, ``hissed and clawed the air like a lion.'' Another kitten scratched her as Thompson and the neighbor gathered them up and put them into a box. That's when Thompson's neighbor decided to call Animal Control because she thought the kittens were wild and dangerous.
The officer who arrived said the kittens would be monitored for 10 days but after that time would be put to sleep because they were wild animals that could never be adopted out, Thompson said. ``When I first saw them they didn't look like wild animals. I thought they were somebody's house pets,'' she said.
Although she felt sad for the kittens, she hadn't heard the worst news yet.
Several days later a spokesman for the Public Health Department called and told Thompson one of the animals had died of a violent illness and would be tested for rabies immediately. Results would take several days, but in the meantime, they advised Thompson to get treatment immediately, she said.
During the next few days she endured seven uncomfortable shots at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital. ``It was a pain waiting three hours to get the shots, and we had to drive back and forth to Portsmouth three times. I found out the whole series of shots would have cost nearly $700. Thank goodness my husband's in the Navy so we were covered,'' she said.
Although the Public Health Department later called to tell her the kittens had tested negative for rabies, she thinks about the cats that are still loose and wonders if one of them will come in contact with a neighbor's child and start another ordeal?
In addition, Thompson and others are worried because raccoons have been spotted several times in their neighborhood. Raccoons are the most frequent carriers of rabies in Virginia, and 42 rabid raccoons have been involved in incidents locally since 1992. Two rabid cats were reported in 1993, and in the the last 15 months, a fox and two bats were identified as carriers locally.
Nine rabies cases have been reported in the city so far this year. Eleven cases were reported last year.
Valerie Reich of the Health Department said Thompson's experience is not unique and may become more common. ``It's frightening, it really is,'' said Reich. ``We have rabies all over Virginia Beach. It is spreading into the heavily populated areas because we have built so many homes in wooded areas and along the waterfront. We are encroaching into their territory. The wooded areas have been destroyed so they are forced to go into these places.''
Raccoons are highly adaptable animals, she said, that can survive by stealing dog food, living under decks or in attics.
In late August, a raccoon involved in a fight with a pet dog in the Alanton subdivision tested positive for rabies. Though covered by a current rabies vaccination, the dog is being monitored while under home confinement for 90 days. An unvaccinated dog exposed to a raccoon on DeLaura Lane in Aragona in June had to be euthanized. In the last two years alone, 17 Beach residents have had to undergo rabies shots and three unvaccinated pets have been destroyed. Cases have been reported in such areas as Alanton, Great Neck, Kings Grant and near Lynnhaven Mall.
Since the current epidemic in Virginia Beach began in 1992, 48 animals have been found to be rabid. After several well-publicized incidents of rabid raccoons and a rabid bat in the city last year, Virginia Beach Health Department officials have created an informational program, Kids Against Rabies, that they hope to present in all schools near the areas where raccoons and exposed animals have been reported. MEMO: Anyone seeking further information on the rabies epidemic or
scheduling the Kids Against Rabies program for their school may contact
Valerie Reich at 491-5940. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Linda Thompson, left, was scratched by a kitten that her children
found in their Salem Woods back yard. It turned into an ordeal
involving seven rabies shots - although the kitten later turned up
negative for rabies. With Thompson are her children, Scott, 10,
Brian, 8, and Amy, 6, and the family pet, Hobie. by CNB