A skunk captured in downtown Vancouver has tested positive for rabies after biting people, prompting Vancouver Coastal Health to ask anyone who had contact with the animal to come forward. The health authority said in a news release Wednesday evening that a small number of people were bitten and have since been assessed and given rabies vaccinations and immunoglobulin, according to the Vancouver Sun.
The skunk was found in the city's West End and was euthanized by a veterinarian because of a broken jaw before being sent for testing. The health authority is now trying to reach anyone else who may have been exposed.
Why it matters
Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, but it can be stopped if treatment is given soon after exposure. That makes fast public notice important, even when the number of people involved is small.
Vancouver Coastal Health is asking anyone who was bitten, scratched, handled, picked up or otherwise had direct contact with a sick or strangely behaving skunk in downtown Vancouver, the West End or the Stanley Park area between Sept. 22 and Oct. 17, 2026, to contact the authority right away for assessment. People can also go to an emergency room.
Pet owners in those areas are being asked to take their dogs or cats to a veterinarian immediately if the animal was bitten, scratched or in recent direct contact with a skunk.
How the bite happened
Vancouver resident Guerric Haché told the Vancouver Sun he was volunteering for the municipal election on Oct. 17 when he saw several people gathered around a skunk that looked unwell in bushes near Comox and Bute streets. The animal got up, looked at him, walked over and bit his leg and then his shoe, he said.
Haché said he called Critter Care Wildlife Society and stayed with the skunk until it was captured. After the animal was taken away, he went to St. Paul's Hospital for pre-exposure rabies shots.
He also said neighbours told him the skunk had been in the area for several days and may have bitten someone else. That account is consistent with the health authority's appeal for others who had contact with the animal to identify themselves.
Rabies in British Columbia
In B.C., rabies is most often linked to bats, which can pass the virus to other animals through bites and scratches. The virus is not spread through feces or urine.
Human rabies cases in Canada are extremely rare, but infection is fatal and can be prevented when vaccines or immunoglobulin are given promptly after exposure. The Vancouver Sun reports that a man died on Vancouver Island in 2019, six weeks after contracting rabies from a bat. Health Canada figures cited by the newspaper show 28 rabies deaths in Canada since 1924, two of them in B.C.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory last month in response to reports of rising human exposures to rabid or potentially rabid animals, the Vancouver Sun reported.
Anyone in the affected parts of Vancouver who had contact with a skunk during the stated period should contact Vancouver Coastal Health or go to an emergency room, and pet owners should watch for signs of exposure and call a veterinarian.
