To the Editor :

When I was a kid we were told to stay away from wild animals because they could have rabies. We were told that the symptoms were that the animal would act strange, they would foam at the mouth, they hated loud noises and couldn't stand the sight of water.

So here I am (much older now) finding out that a rabid animal does [not] necessarily have those symptoms.

On Thursday morning, a rabid skunk was in my brother's yard. The skunk had crawled through a hole in the dog pen and was chasing the dog around the pen. The skunk appeared to be playing at first. It was hopping around and didn't seem overly aggressive. It just looked like it was trying to play with the dog.

My brother tried to run the skunk off with a bb gun and the waterhose but the skunk still chased the dog. It even followed the dog into the doghouse.

My brother cornered it in the doghouse and drenched it with the waterhose. The skunk just hunkered down in the corner. Beating on the top of the doghouse didn't work at running the skunk off either.

Eventually, my brother ended up shooting the skunk and taking it to the vet's office so they could send it off to be tested for rabies. The results came back as positive.

According to the vet's office there have been several people around Tignall that have called about skunks chasing them from their mailboxes to their houses.

So please don't take any chances with skunks or any other wild animal that is acting strange because they could have rabies whether they have the symptoms or not.

Jenifer Allen