06/12/2025
Making sure your pets stay up to date on their rabies vaccine protects not only them, but you and anyone around your pet!!!
It is important if your pet ever has an encounter with a wild or stray animal, to get their rabies boostered! It can save their life, and yours.
**NEWS RELEASE - Gaston County Has 9th Confirmed Rabies Case of 2025**
On Thursday, 6/5/25, at approximately 9:45pm, Gaston County Police Animal Care and Enforcement received a call in reference to a citizen and their dog that were both attacked and bitten by a fox in the 800 block of Alexis High Shoals Road, Dallas, NC.
Animal Care and Enforcement Specialists investigated the incident and were not able to locate the fox that ran back into the woods after the attack. The citizen received treatment at a local hospital the same evening, and the dog, which was current on its rabies vaccination, received a rabies booster shot on Friday morning, 6/6/25.
On the evening of Friday, 6/6/25, a second neighbor in the 800 block of Alexis High Shoals Road reported that he had been attacked by a fox that bit his steel-toe boot while he was in his yard. He was not bitten or injured during the encounter, and no other pets were harmed. This neighbor was able to neutralize the fox, which was impounded by Animal Care and Enforcement on Friday, 6/6/25. The fox was sent to the NC Laboratory of Public Health in Raleigh when the lab opened on Monday, 6/9/25. The official laboratory results were received on Tuesday, 6/11/25, at approximately 1:00 pm, indicating that the fox tested positive for rabies.
Animal Care and Enforcement completed a neighborhood canvass in the area of Alexis High Shoals Road, Dallas, NC, to notify the community of the positive rabies results and verify rabies vaccinations for family pets in the area.
Gaston County Animal Care and Enforcement also notified the Gaston County Department of Health and Human Services about the incident.
The Gaston County Police Department Animal Care and Enforcement Division stresses the importance of having a valid rabies vaccination for all pets’ health and safety, as well as the health and safety of their owners and community.
This represents the 9th confirmed rabies case in Gaston County this year.