The Brownsville Health Department workers spent most of Friday handing out flyers.
There were there alerting neighbors on East Cowen Terrance Road after a bat found in the area had tested positive for rabies.
“On September 11th there’s a cat that brought a bat to its owner that it had killed,” said Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada. “The owner turned in the bat to the health department who sent it out to the state lab to analyze it and to see if it was rabid."
According to health officials, this wasn’t any local bat species -- it was a bat from Mexico or Central America and it tested positive for rabies.
Officials point out this incident is an isolated case and explain that the bat is not a local animal.
The bat is a northern yellow bat, more commonly found in Mexico or Central America.
Authorities believe it got to Brownsville with the powerful winds from Tropical Storm Hermine.
Mayor Ahumada is urging residents to be alert and monitor their pets who may have come in contact with the cat.
“I have a Doberman Pincher and a white Shih Tzu so you know I’m like when that happened, when I read it, I went outside to check up on them and see if there was anything that had attacked them,” said Belinda Martinez a neighbor in the area. “But no everything is fine."
Health officials told Action 4 the cat is currently in quarantine with its owner and so far has tested negative for rabies.
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