Los Angeles County's First Rabid Raccoon Since 1973, Amid a Record Year for Bats
Los Angeles County has confirmed its first rabid raccoon since 1973, ending a gap of more than 50 years. The county health department announced the investigation on October 5, 2026, after the animal was found at a backyard work site in Westlake Village. The Guardian
Four people and a dog may have been exposed at the site. County officials said the raccoon appeared ill but was not aggressive. Direct contact can still pose a risk even when an animal does not act aggressive.
The four people are receiving follow-up care that includes a series of rabies vaccines. The dog was up to date on its rabies vaccine and is doing well in quarantine, a period of separation and health checks. The county says routine pet vaccination wiped out the dog strain of rabies in the United States, leaving bat-maintained and other wildlife strains as the remaining source. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
The rabies variant, or distinct type, in this raccoon is not yet known. Officials believe it likely came from a bat. Laboratory testing to identify the strain, much like matching a fingerprint, can take several weeks. The 1973 raccoon carried the skunk variant. That strain was still present in the county in 1973 and has not been detected there since 1979.
The last non-bat animal confirmed with rabies was a skunk found in Long Beach in 2014. That skunk carried the bat variant. No land-animal variant is now understood to spread on its own in the county, with bats as the documented reservoir, or natural home, for the virus.
Bat cases in 2026 are the highest on county record. Officials documented 69 rabid bats in 2026, and nearly one-third of bats sent for testing were infected. Detections have risen steadily for more than a decade, with peak season in late summer. The October 5 announcement listed 70 confirmed rabid bats, also a record. The small difference reflects new cases added during peak surveillance.
Rabies causes tens of thousands of human deaths around the world each year. In animals, the disease is 100% fatal once symptoms begin.
The broader context here is what a single spillover means during a record bat epizootic, or surge of disease in animals. The open questions are variant identity, how transmission happened, and whether this raccoon is an isolated dead-end infection or an early sign of wider contact between bats and land animals. A bat-variant result, as with the 2014 skunk, would confirm spread across species without a new cycle in raccoons. A terrestrial variant would call for different control steps. Until sequencing is complete, quarantine, vaccination after contact, and continued bat testing remain the working tools. The Westlake Village case will test how quickly detection, care, and lab confirmation can connect.
