Health & Environment

Coming up: Free rabies vaccination clinic in Riverhead

NEWS-REVIEW FILE PHOTO | A free rabies vaccination clinic will be held April 5 at Polish Hall in Riverhead.
A free rabies vaccination clinic will be held April 5 at Polish Hall in Riverhead. (File photo)

Attention, pet owners: a free rabies vaccination clinic will be held Saturday, April 5 at Polish Hall in Riverhead.

The Suffolk County Department of Health Services and Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons will offer free rabies vaccinations to dogs, cats and ferrets April 5 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to a SCDHS press release.

The clinic is open to all county residents but the number of vaccinations is limited and only available while supplies last, the SCDHS said. All dogs must be on leashes and all cats and ferrets must be in carriers.

New York State and Suffolk County law requires that all dogs, cats and ferrets be vaccinated against rabies, a deadly disease caused by a virus that attacks the central nervous system and is usually transmitted from wild animals like raccoons, bats, skunks and foxes to pets and livestock.

According to SCDHS, rabies was identified in 19 raccoons near the Nassau-Suffolk border between 2006 and 2009. The last confirmed case of a rabid raccoon was in early 2009.

For more information about rabies, visit the New York State Department of Health website.

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