Rabies Control and Animal Quarantine

• An owner whose animal is suspected of having rabies or other disease communicable to humans, or which has bitten or caused a skin abrasion upon a human, shall place the animal in isolation under quarantine upon the direction of the Director and/or Agent for a period of fourteen days.
  
  
• In the event the animal has had a current rabies vaccination, and it is the first bite of record and after proper instructions to the owner of the animal regarding the care of the animal while it’s being quarantined, the Animal Control Officer, the Director and/or Agent may authorize the owner to quarantine the animal at the owner’s home.
  
  
• In the event the animal has not had a current rabies vaccination, or in the event it is unknown if the vaccination is current , or in the event evidence is not produced satisfactory to the Director and/or Agent that the vaccination is current, or if the animal appears and acts vicious or dangerous, and in the event the animal has bitten twice or more times, or for any other reason that the Director and/or Agent so determines, the animal shall be quarantined at the Animal Control Shelter, or a licensed veterinary hospital, and all costs of such confinement shall be paid by the owner.
  
  
• All cats and dogs running at large that inflict a bite or bites upon and/or attacks human beings or domestic animals without cause or justification must be quarantined at the Cedar Rapids Animal Shelter.
  
  
• Animals will be released from quarantine only when the adult owner is present and after a second inspection or the rabies certificate.
  
  
• In the event a wild or domestic animal dies, is killed or euthanized before the quarantine period of fourteen days has expired, a specimen of brain tissue must be submitted to the Iowa State Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Iowa for rabies testing.
  
  
• In the event the rabies suspect animal is stray and dangerous for the Animal Control personnel to safely handle, the Director may euthanize said animal and submit a specimen to the Iowa State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa for rabies testing.
  
  
• The owner of a rabies suspect animal may elect to have the Director and/or Agent euthanize his or her animal and submit a specimen for rabies testing to the Iowa State Hygienic Laboratory in lieu of having said animal quarantined for the required fourteen day period, at which time the owner is to pay a $75.00 fee if they bring their dog to the Shelter for this service or a $100.00 fee for the Animal Control Officer to pick up the dog from it’s home.
  
  
• Whenever a specimen is submitted to the Iowa State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa, a rabies history form must accompany the specimen.
  
  
• When the owner of any animal, the Health department, doctor, hospital, veterinarian or any person having knowledge of any biting or causing a skin abrasion upon any person in the City has reported same to the Department of Animal Control, the Department personnel must take immediate measures to enforce all aspects of local, state and federal laws with respect to rabies control.
  
  
• All wildlife that are rabies suspects must be euthanized by the Director and/or Agents and a brain specimen submitted to the Iowa State Hygienic Laboratory for rabies testing.
  
  
• Bats may encounter a person in a home and potentially transmit rabies even though that person reports no history of contact or bite from a bat (for example, bats can inflict bites while people are sleeping and the encounter can go unrecognized). In fact, over the past several years, the majority of human rabies cases in the U.S. have been due to bat-derived rabies and most of these people report no history or coming in direct contact with bats.
  
  
  • Any bat involved in an incident should be captured and sent in for rabies testing. This is essential to minimize post-exposure treatment.
    
    
  • The presence of bats in a home is good evidence that bats are colonized there and efforts should be made to remove them.
    
    
  • The Animal Control Officer uses a net, tennis racket and heavy gloves when capturing bats. Iowa State law prohibits the killing of bats that are out in the wild.