Pinal County Issues Rabies Alert

The Pinal County Public Health Services District has issued an advisory for animal rabies to all residents of Pinal County. On March 6th, 2008 a coati, which is a member of the raccoon family native to southern Arizona, collected in the Oracle area tested positive for rabies at the Arizona State Public Health Laboratory. This is the 3rd animal to test positive in Pinal County in 2008. There is an ongoing investigation by public health officials to determine if there were any human exposures to this coati. No human exposures have been identified at this point.