Raccoon disease on the rise in Long Beach

If you’re a pet owner in Long Beach, you may want to keep an extra eye out when letting your animal outside.
A recent outbreak of a disease being carried by raccoons is on the rise throughout the city. Animal control authorities tell News 25 right now they’re getting about ten to twenty raccoons with distemper on a weekly basis.
The distemper is not transmittable to humans according to animal control officers. Although cats are at risk, dogs are most prone to be affected. Long Beach Animal Control Officer Kerry Hall said, “If your dogs are outside and they’re around any of the waste raccoons are dropping, make sure that they are getting their distemper shots. It’s an annual requirement. Everybody ought to be getting them anyway, but that will cause your dog not to be able to contract the distemper virus.”
If a raccoon appears to be lethargic, walking in circles on the roadway in the middle of the day, or giving any reason to believe it may have the distemper, animal control officers want the public to call the Long Beach Police Department.