Islip raccoon tests positive for rabies, 37th positive case in last 18 months

Another raccoon has tested positive for rabies in Suffolk County, this time in Islip, health officials said.

The Suffolk County Department of Health Services learned the raccoon tested positive Thursday at the state health department's Wadsworth Center in Albany, according to a news release. The animal was discovered after police responded to a call regarding a raccoon that "appeared ill," health officials said. The release did not note the date the animal was found.

Neither humans nor pets were exposed to the rabid animal, according to the release.

Thursday's confirmation marked the 37th positive case of rabies in raccoons and stray cats in Suffolk County over the past 18 months, the health department said. On Feb. 7 of last year, the county reported the first positive case of rabies in a land mammal since 2009.

Nassau County reported 26 raccoons and one feral cat tested positive for rabies last year, a health department spokesperson told Newsday via email. The only rabid raccoon in Nassau from the start of this year through July 20, when state health department records were last updated, was confirmed on Jan. 1.

Nassau's rabies concerns began in 2024, when four raccoons and two cats tested positive for the disease. Last summer, county officials announced rabies had become an "imminent public health threat," which the health department since combated with "extensive rabies control efforts, including an expanded program to distribute oral rabies vaccine baits," the spokesperson told Newsday.

"Those efforts have continued, and the substantial decline in confirmed cases in 2026 is encouraging," the Nassau Health Department said. "However, rabies remains present in the region, and continued prevention and surveillance efforts are ongoing. The Department continues its oral rabies vaccine baiting program with another distribution planned for this fall."

The deadly disease can infect not only raccoons, but bats, household pets, skunks or any other mammal, including humans. Residents should avoid touching or transporting wild animals, the health department said.

Raccoons behaving abnormally can be reported to the Suffolk County Police Department's non-emergency line, 631-852-COPS or the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation at 631-444-0250.