The Banner Staff
DUNCAN — A Duncan woman was bitten by a stray dog Friday near First Presbyterian Church.
Vicki Carey was trying to help another person corral a lost dog. During the incident, Carey was bitten when she tried to pick up the dog.
“I was driving down Eighth Street when I saw a car parked on the south side of the street, so I turned left to go around it. I saw a person trying to catch a little dog,” she said. “I stopped and tried to help him catch the dog. I thought if I got on the far side of the man I could drive the dog back toward him. At one point, the dog was in between my feet, so, I reached down to pick him up. That’s when the dog bit me.”
Animal Control Officer Lesa Adkins visited Carey while she was receiving treatment for the wound and gave her papers on the rabies vaccination.
“I spoke with her (Monday) and she had called all the veterinarians and animal control to see if any dogs had been turned in,” Carey said.
Adkins said she has contacted all the veterinarians and even went to the Stephens County Humane Society Shelter to look for the dog and to let them all know to keep an eye out for the animal.
She said the dog was a small Chihuahua mix and that Carey was bit on the hand.
“There’s no cure for rabies, and we want to keep her from getting those expensive shots,” Adkins said. The animal control standard is to get those dogs quarantined within 72 hours, but Adkins did tell Carey to check with her own personal physician as to treatment in case the dog isn’t found. If it is a stray dog, it could have been running with feral cats or around skunks, which are carriers of rabies, Adkins noted.
Carey said that she isn’t upset with the man that was trying to catch the dog, but she doesn’t want to have to endure the pain of a rabies vaccination.
“I’m trying to find the man because if I don’t find the dog I have to take rabies shots,” she said. “He told me his name, and I can’t remember it. I’m not angry with him at all.
“I just want to speak to the man and have the dog checked.”
Carey said that she remembers what the dog looked like.
“It was small, it had the resemblance of a Chihuahua,” she said. “It was a short-haired, black dog. It was about a foot long with short legs.”
Adkins said she believes Carey thought the man’s name was Charles Blakely, yet a check through the comm center and other areas have not produced a man by that name. “He was in a leg brace,” Adkins said.
Adkins said the only concern right now is getting that dog into quarantine or proving that it is current on rabies vaccinations.
