Protect yourself from rabies

Remember: do not touch, feed or move wildlife, including young, sick or injured animals, and avoid animals that are behaving strangely.

If you find a stray animal, report it to your local Animal Control Services. If you had a potential exposure due to an animal bite or scratch or had contact with wildlife, wash wounds with soap and water and seek medical attention immediately.

Animal Control Services contact information

Animal bites, scratches or other exposures

If you are bitten, scratched or had contact with wildlife:

• If possible, collect the contact information of the animal’s owner/custodian (name, address and phone number).
• Immediately wash any wound or mucous membranes with soap and water and remove any clothing that might be contaminated with saliva. Proper wound care after an animal bite can significantly reduce the risk of rabies.
• Immediately contact your healthcare provider. They will treat any wounds and determine the need for post-exposure rabies treatment in consultation with Halton Region Public Health.
• Notify your local Animal Control Services if necessary.
• Call 311   to report the incident to Halton Region Public Health. 

A public health inspector will then follow up with you to collect information, including:

• name and address of the pet owner, if applicable
• description of the animal
• information that will help to locate the animal

To learn about contact with bats, visit the Bats and Rabies page.

Importance of seeking medical attention

Rabies is a viral infection that affects the nervous system of warm-blooded animals, including humans. The virus can be transmitted from an infected animal through:

• bites that break the skin
• saliva entering an open wound
• saliva entering the mouth, nose or eyes

Treatment to prevent rabies, if necessary, is most effective if started promptly after the exposure. The need for rabies treatment is assessed by your healthcare provider and will depend on:

• the type of animal involved
• where the exposure occurred (for example, in Halton or while travelling to another country)
• the reason for exposure (for example, if it was provoked, such as feeding a wild animal, or an unprovoked attack)
• whether the animal is a domestic pet whose health and rabies vaccination status can be determined

What to do if your pet bites or scratches someone

Share your information. Provide the person who was bitten or scratched with your:

• name
• address
• phone number

Providing this information will help Halton Region Public Health to determine your animal’s health status. This may also help the person who was bitten/scratched to avoid potentially unnecessary medical treatment.

Halton Region Public Health’s role

Halton Region investigates animal bites and scratches to prevent and control the transmission of rabies. A Public Health Inspector may:

1. Contact you to request further details about the incident, your animal's vaccination status, etc.
2. Visually assess the health of your animal as soon as possible after receiving a bite/scratch report.
3. Require a 10-day observation period of your animal in your home. During this period, limit the interaction between your animal and other animals or people, immediately call 311 if your animal appears unwell, escapes, dies or if thier behavior changes, and ensure your animal is not re-immunized against rabies.
4. Reassess the health of your animal, after the 10-day observation period to ensure your animal is healthy and did not develop any signs of rabies.
5. Confine livestock animals (for example, horse) for a 14-day period to observe if they develop rabies.

These best practices help protect residents and pets in Halton from rabies.

Vaccinating your pet

In accordance to Ontario Regulation 567 (external link), every person responsible for the care or custody of a cat, dog or ferret aged 3 months of age or older shall ensure the cat, dog or ferret is vaccinated against rabies. You can be fined for not vaccinating your pet.

Your local veterinary clinic can vaccinate your pet during a regular visit. Vaccinations are effective for either 1 or 3 years, depending on the vaccine used by your veterinarian.

Please visit OAVT website for upcoming low-cost rabies vaccine clinics (external link).

Protecting your family and pets

Always avoid animals that are behaving strangely and report strays to Animal Control Services.

Risk of rabies from squirrels, hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits

Squirrels, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chipmunks, rats, mice or other small rodents, as well as lagomorphs (such as rabbits and hares) are only rarely found to be infected with rabies. Because these small animals are not known to have caused human rabies in North America, PEP should be considered only if the animal’s behaviour was highly unusual.

A bite from a squirrel while feeding it would not be considered unusual behaviour and so does not warrant PEP based on this information alone.

Regardless, notify Halton Region Public Health following an incident with these animals.

Adopting and importing pets from overseas

There are important considerations to remember and follow when adopting and importing pets from overseas to ensure animals and humans in Halton Region and Ontario are protected against diseases such as rabies. While the risk of rabies transmission in Canada from dogs and cats is considered to be low, the risk is considerably higher in many other countries. Access a list of countries recognized by Canada as rabies free for cats and dogs (external link). According to the World Health Organization (external link), rabies infection continues to cause tens of thousands of human deaths globally every year, mainly in Asia and Africa, and in up to 99% of these cases, domestic dogs are responsible for rabies virus transmission to humans.

As of September 28, 2022, commercial dogs from countries at high risk for dog rabies are not permitted entry into Canada. To learn more, visit the Government of Canada website media release (external link).

Information for prospective animal owners

If you and/or your family are interested in adopting a dog from a breeder, rescue organization, or shelter, there is important information you should consider in order to avoid importing or accepting a sick and/or infectious dog that may pose a risk to the your health, the health of others and the health of other local animals here in Ontario.

There are also animal welfare concerns associated with transporting dogs from overseas. Imported dogs can also have significant behavioural issues if they were not properly socialized and never lived in a home prior to being adopted, which can lead to an increased risk of biting.

Information for organizations (for example, rescue agencies)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is responsible for regulating the importation of animals, including dogs, into Canada. The importation of animals is regulated to prevent the introduction and spread of diseases, such as rabies, that could have adverse health impacts on local animals and people.

The Canada Border Services Agency is responsible for conducting inspections on behalf of the CFIA. If an animal is found to be non-compliant with the CFIA's humane transport and/or import requirements, the  Agency may refuse the animal entry or refer it to the CFIA for further inspection.

Breeders, rescue agencies and shelters should review the CFIA's requirements for importing animals (external link) from other counties.  Be aware that new regulatory requirements for importing commercial dogs less than 8 months of age for breeding or resale (external link) (including adoption) came into effect in May 2021.

In addition, these organizations should ensure prospective owners or caretakers of all animals they provide, including imported animals, are given appropriate and sufficient information (see above) to manage any risks to animal and human health.