With the arrival of spring, the Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments (GO Health) are encouraging residents not to touch wildlife – including baby animals. 

Touching wildlife disrupts their natural behavior as well as poses risks to both human safety and animal welfare. During the spring months, many baby animals are born, and it can be common to encounter these animals. 

However, it is important to remember that wild animals should be left alone. Baby animals, while cute and seemingly harmless, can carry diseases such as rabies. 

Rabies, a viral infection, is spread by direct contact with saliva through cuts on the skin or mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, or eyes. Rabies is mostly seen in wildlife, including raccoons, bats, and skunks. It is essential to remember to keep a safe distance and admire wildlife and stray animals from afar.

In 2023, Genesee County investigated 191 animal bite and rabies incidents, and Orleans County investigated 137. Genesee County submitted 31 animal specimens, and 1 tested positive for rabies. Orleans County submitted 20 specimens, and 1 tested positive for rabies. Both positive tests were raccoons.

“If you come in contact with animals, including baby animals and strays, avoid touching them and call animal control. If you handle a wild or a stray animal or are bitten by one, immediately call the Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments,” stated Darren Brodie, Environmental Health Director for GO Health. 

“In the event that you are bitten by an animal, you should clean the wound with soap and water and get medical help right away.”

GO Health recommends the following guidance when encountering wildlife or stray animals:

• Observe from a distance and avoid contact: Love your own, leave the rest alone. Observing wildlife from a distance decreases the risk of disease transmission. By avoiding physical contact, you are keeping yourself, your family, and your pets safe.
• Report concerns: If you come in contact with a wild or stray animal, touch a wild or stray animal, or are bitten by a wild or stray animal, immediately seek medical attention and contact the Genesee or Orleans County Health Departments. If you encounter distressed wildlife, or wildlife is showing signs of rabies, immediately contact your local animal control agency. Signs of rabies in an animal may include aggression, excessive drool or saliva, confusion, hair loss, and loss of movement or function. 

Residents are encouraged to take note of our upcoming drive-thru rabies vaccination clinics for dogs, cats, and ferrets in Genesee and Orleans Counties that are offered at no charge.

Genesee County Rabies Clinics at the Genesee County Fairgrounds (5056 East Main Street, Batavia)

• Thursday, May 16, from 4 - 7 p.m.
• Thursday, August 8, from 4 - 7 p.m.
• Thursday, October 10, from 4 - 6 p.m.

Orleans County Rabies Clinics at the Orleans County Fairgrounds (12690 State Route 31, Albion)

• Wednesday, June 5, from 4 - 6:30 p.m.
• Saturday, August 10, from 9 - 11:30 a.m.
• Saturday, October 19, from 9 - 11:30 a.m.

For more information on GO Health’s programs and services, visit GOHealthNY.org. You can also contact your respective health department:

• Genesee County- 585-344-2580 x5555 or Health@co.genesee.ny.us
• Orleans County- 585-589-3278 or OCPublicHealth@orleanscountyny.gov

Follow GO Health on Facebook, Instagram, and X at GOHealthNY.

New York will once again be taking part in a nationally coordinated effort to halt the spread of raccoon rabies in 16 states. The Oral Rabies Vaccine Field Evaluation will be held in New York, July 26 – Aug. 24.

Ongoing field evaluation of a new oral rabies vaccine (ORV) called ONRAB will occur in Clinton, Essex counties in the Empire State as part of an evaluation that also includes parts of northern Vermont and New Hampshire.  Additionally, evaluations will also occur in Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Jefferson, Lewis, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Orleans, Oswego, St. Lawrence, and Wyoming counties.

These sites were selected in part because of ongoing collaborations with partners from the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, Canada, in the fight against rabies to protect human and animal health and reduce significant costs associated with living with rabies across broad geographic areas.  Aerial and hand distribution of baits will take place in New York from July 26 – Aug. 24. 

Rabies is a serious public health concern because if left untreated it is invariably fatal. Costs associated with detection, prevention and control of rabies conservatively exceed $500 million annually.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, greater than 90 percent of reported rabies cases in the United States are in wildlife. The cooperative USDA, APHIS, Wildlife Services, National Rabies Management Program (NRMP) was established in 1997 to prevent the further spread of wildlife rabies in the United States by containing and eventually eliminating the virus in terrestrial mammals.

The majority of the NRMP efforts are focused on controlling raccoon rabies, which continues to account for most of the reported wildlife rabies cases in the United States. Raccoon rabies occurs in all states east of the established ORV zone that extends from Maine to Northeastern Ohio to central Alabama.

Continued access to oral vaccine and bait options that are effective in all target wildlife species remains critical to long-term success. 

During 2011, the NRMP worked with other Federal, State, and local partners to conduct the first raccoon ORV field trial in the United States in over 20 years.

This field trial was designed to test the safety and immunogenicity of the oral human adenovirus-rabies glycoprotein recombinant vaccine ONRAB (Artemis Technologies, Guelph, Ontario, Canada), which has been successfully integrated into comprehensive rabies control programs that resulted in elimination of raccoon rabies from Canada.

Encouraging results from the U.S. trial in West Virginia represented a major milestone that led to expanded evaluations in four additional states (N.H., N.Y., Ohio, and Ver.) during 2012-2020.

In 2021, the use of ONRAB will further expand into two additional states (Pa. and Tenn.). Data from these evaluations will support licensing of this vaccine for broader, more aggressive management of raccoon rabies by the NRMP and partners, with the goal of eliminating the variant of the rabies virus that cycles in raccoons.

The ONRAB bait consists of a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) blister pack, containing the vaccine. To make the baits attractive, the blister packs are coated with a sweet attractant that includes vegetable-based fats, wax, icing sugar, vegetable oil, artificial marshmallow flavor, and dark-green food-grade dye.

Humans and pets cannot get rabies from contact with the bait. However, people who encounter baits directly are asked to leave them undisturbed.  Should contact with bait occur, immediately rinse the area with warm water and soap and contact your local health department at (585) 344-2580, ext. 5555, for Genesee County or (585) 589-3278 for Orleans County.

Please do not attempt to remove a bait from your dog’s mouth. The bait will not harm the dog. If you have additional questions related to the field evaluation in New York, please contact the Wildlife Services office in Rensselaer at (518) 268-2289.

UPDATE 12:04 p.m.: "The turtle has been removed; that job can now be cleared," an officer tells dispatch.

UPDATE 10:09 a.m.: The motorcyclist, in addition to having upper left leg pain, has an injured right eye and some abrasions on his right side. The woodchuck is reportedly deceased.

UPDATE 10:28 a.m.: There's a tree down, which is causing an unknown-type wire to bow about five feet off the ground. A first responder says it's not in the roadway and there's no footpath, so it's not impeding traffic.

There's an empty bowl by the dog and a sign that says "Do Not Pet."

UPDATE 3:17 p.m.: A couple of deputies are heading to Walmart to assist the animal control officers who says a female whom she detained at the vehicle wants to leave. The female then got in the vehicle and started to leave "even though I told her not to," says the officer, but now the driver has stopped.

UPDATE 3:20 p.m.: Deputies are on scene.

UPDATE 3:29 p.m.: After speaking with the driver, all officers have cleared the scene. The animal control officer is continuing to the Bethany complaint, which is in the 10,000 block of Silver Road.

This picture of a cardinal at a backyard bird feeder was taken this morning by Chantal Zambito at her Elba home.

John Spyropoulos spotted a pair of bald eagles feasting on a deer carcass this morning along the Tonawanda Creek along South Main Street in Batavia. He submitted this photo where you can see one of the eagles at the top of a tree.

A Department of Environmental Conservation officer in on scene and requests assistance from a Sheriff's deputy. A deputy is dispatched to the location.