Health officials have found a rabid skunk near Sloan’s Lake in west Denver.
Although not unusual in rural areas of the state, the rabid skunk is the first discovered in the metro region since 1976, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the skunk was infected with a strain of the virus typically carried by bats.
John Pape, a state health department epidemiologist, said the bat strain is usually isolated and doesn’t spread to other animals. “This probably means the infected animal found and ate a rabid bat,” he said in a statement.
The Denver Department of Environmental Health, Animal Care and Control will offer rabies vaccinations for pets from 9 a.m. to noon Sunday at the southwest end of Sloan’s Lake Park, near the intersection of West 17th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard.
