{"id":75161,"date":"2026-07-31T18:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=75161"},"modified":"2026-07-31T18:52:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:52:25","slug":"polk-county-confirms-5th-rabies-case-after-bat-tests-positive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/07\/31\/polk-county-confirms-5th-rabies-case-after-bat-tests-positive\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk County Confirms 5th Rabies Case After Bat Tests Positive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office (PCSO) Animal Control<\/strong> confirmed the fifth positive rabies case in Polk County this year.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Key Details of the Incident<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Location:<\/strong> Lakewood Circle, Lakeland.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Incident:<\/strong> On July 27, 2026, a resident reported that her cat was playing with a bat outside.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Outcome:<\/strong> Animal Control impounded the bat and submitted it to the state laboratory in Tampa for testing. Results confirmed the bat was positive for rabies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Pet Status:<\/strong> The owner’s cat was up to date on its rabies vaccinations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Official Warnings & Guidance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Sheriff Grady Judd urged residents to remain vigilant regarding local wildlife and stray animals, emphasizing that keeping pets vaccinated is the single best defense against the fatal virus.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Do not approach or handle<\/strong> wild or stray animals, especially nocturnal creatures (like bats) active during the day or behaving unusually.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Ensure all household pets<\/strong> are current on their rabies vaccines.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Report exposures:<\/strong> If you suspect you, a family member, or a pet has come into contact with a potentially rabid animal, contact PCSO Animal Control Section at 863-577-1762<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office (PCSO) Animal Control confirmed the fifth positive rabies case in Polk County this year. Key Details of the Incident Official Warnings & Guidance Sheriff Grady… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75162,"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":"","_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":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDdcL3VubmFtZWQtMi53ZWJwP2ZpdD0xMDI0JTJDNTc5JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiUG9sayBDb3VudHkgQ29uZmlybXMgNXRoIFJhYmllcyBDYXNlIEFmdGVyIEJhdCBUZXN0cyBQb3NpdGl2ZSIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.mqdFroePSP7k1_t6fArBL3DP_gmVWQuGGpA5RjhoVUsMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDdcL3VubmFtZWQtMi53ZWJwP2ZpdD0xMDI0JTJDNTc5JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiUG9sayBDb3VudHkgQ29uZmlybXMgNXRoIFJhYmllcyBDYXNlIEFmdGVyIEJhdCBUZXN0cyBQb3NpdGl2ZSIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.mqdFroePSP7k1_t6fArBL3DP_gmVWQuGGpA5RjhoVUsMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[237,15415,15417,15418,15236,15414,15272],"class_list":["post-75161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-lakeland","tag-animal-control","tag-bat","tag-pet-safety","tag-polk-county-sheriffs-office","tag-rabies","tag-rabies-vaccine"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75161","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=75161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75163,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75161\/revisions\/75163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}