What to know about reporting animal bite incidents in Mineral County

Dog bites are a regular entry in the weekly Mineral County Sheriff’s log, with more reports coming in the spring and summer months.

“Three dog bites is pretty average for this time of year,” reports Amy Lommen, Communicable Disease and Community Health Specialist with the Mineral County Health Department. “We usually start seeing an increase in dog bite cases as soon as the weather warms up and then fewer in the colder months. We have investigated four cases since April of this year. All pets checked out just fine with no signs or symptoms of rabies.”

The dog bite alone is traumatic, but it also should be examined by a health professional at a clinic or ER.

“Human rabies, or exposure to rabies, is a reportable communicable disease under Montana Code Annotated and it is fatal in humans if left untreated,” Lommen explained. “Rabies is transmitted by the saliva of an infected animal, so a bite has to break the skin for rabies to be potentially transmitted.”

It should be noted that bites do not pertain to only dogs. Cats or wild animal bites are as dangerous, especially bats. Pets are known to scour around and interacting with a skunk or other wild animal that may have rabies potentially exposures them and they may expose you, so this is not something to be taken lightly when the skin is broken in an animal bite.

The MCHD does not see people who have been bitten but recommend that they get a booster for tetanus if they haven’t had one in a long time when they see their health-care provider to have the wound examined.

Lommen explained the reporting process.

“The information we collect includes how the person was bitten, geographical location, physical location of bite, who the owner of the pet is or where the animal lives, to what extent the person was bitten, how the animal that bit the human was acting, and rabies vaccine status of the animal (if domestic). We give information to the person who was bitten, and then talk with the owner and give them information about the investigation. Then the animal is monitored for ten days following the incident to watch for any signs of rabies. Most of the time this occurs under veterinary observation but depending on circumstances the quarantine period can occur at the owner’s home if the animal can be separated from all other animals and humans for the duration. After day ten the animal (if domestic) is seen by a veterinarian to assess for rabies symptoms. Once the animal has been observed we receive the report and make a determination if any follow up by the person who was bitten is needed.”

If the dog, cat or wild animal could not be located, they work through the investigation to determine if Post-Exposure Prophylaxis is recommended to prevent the development of rabies in the exposed human. This scenario depends a lot on what type of animal was involved, how the animal was acting at the time of the incident, and under what circumstances the bite occurred.

Deputy Ryan Funke was quite new to the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office but had worked with a vicious dog ordinance in Lake County in law enforcement.

A neighbor of his in St. Regis was having problems with dogs killing his domesticated fowl so Funke worked with the dog owners and victim where hands were shaken and restitution was made, but that spurred him to develop an ordinance for the county.

“It was adopted Jan. 3, 2019, so now any issues with dogs that are reported is handled through a judge who can impose a fine up to $500 and 6 months in jail,” he said.

In addition to the county ordinance, both the Town of Alberton and Superior have their own ordinances for pet ownership.

Lommen wants to be very clear on an issue.

“One common misconception we encounter when working with pet owners is the preconceived idea that they have to put their animal down if the pet bit someone. The pet needs to be monitored following a bite and cannot receive any vaccines during the ten-day monitoring period. We want everyone to know our health department doesn’t make the recommendation that people put their animals down if they’ve bitten someone. We all have pets at the health department and love them to pieces!”