{"id":64686,"date":"2026-04-12T19:53:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T23:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=64686"},"modified":"2026-04-12T19:53:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T23:53:38","slug":"3rd-rabies-case-confirmed-in-polk-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/04\/12\/3rd-rabies-case-confirmed-in-polk-county\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd rabies case confirmed in Polk County"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The third rabies case for 2026 has been confirmed in Polk County as of April 11, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office reported that this latest case involved a Brazilian free-tailed bat<\/strong> found inside a home within the city limits of Bartow<\/strong>.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Case Details<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Location:<\/strong> Bartow, FL.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Incident:<\/strong> On Wednesday, April 8, a family\u2019s cat was discovered near a live bat inside their residence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Current Status:<\/strong> While officials do not believe the cat made direct contact with the bat, the pet has been placed under quarantine as a precaution. The bat was sent to the State Laboratory in Tampa, where it tested positive.+1<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Summary of 2026 Cases<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    All three confirmed cases in the county this year have involved bats:<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Late March:<\/strong> A bat was found in Lake Wales (Masterpiece Road area).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. March 31:<\/strong> A bat was found inside a home southwest of Lakeland.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. April 11:<\/strong> The current Bartow case.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Important Safety Reminders<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Sheriff Grady Judd and local health officials are urging residents to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Report Exposure:<\/strong> If you or your pet are bitten, scratched, or come into contact with a wild animal, contact Polk County Animal Control<\/strong> at 863-577-1762<\/strong>. found inside a home within the city limits of Bartow<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Vaccinate Pets:<\/strong> Ensure all dogs, cats, and ferrets are up to date on rabies vaccinations, even if they stay indoors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Avoid Wildlife:<\/strong> Do not touch or approach any wild animal, especially bats, or animals acting unusually or aggressively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The third rabies case for 2026 has been confirmed in Polk County as of April 11, 2026. The Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office reported that this latest case involved a Brazilian… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDRcL2ltYWdlcy0yLTIud2VicD9maXQ9MjM4JTJDMjEyJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiM3JkIHJhYmllcyBjYXNlIGNvbmZpcm1lZCBpbiBQb2xrIENvdW50eSIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.zda-AUXuAR-t1JRpCWdXwINdxhtMDQ2dsgOIDPno2ngMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA0XC9pbWFnZXMtMi0yLndlYnAiLCJ0eHQiOiIzcmQgcmFiaWVzIGNhc2UgY29uZmlybWVkIGluIFBvbGsgQ291bnR5IiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0._VUnftNkYiQxZ8VUmFzs9-grt1Vos_g4xA4jCFq3xT0MQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[14367],"class_list":["post-64686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-3rd-rabies-case-confirmed-in-polk-county"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64688,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64686\/revisions\/64688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}