Free rabies vaccination clinic for dogs, cats, ferrets offered by Suffolk next month

The Suffolk County Department of Health Services has scheduled its first free rabies vaccine clinic for the year on the heels of several positive cases of the disease in animals discovered on Long Island.

The county, through a collaboration with the Town of Brookhaven and the Eastern Long Island Academy of Applied Technology, will offer free rabies vaccinations by appointment for cats, dogs and ferrets on March 21 at the Eastern Suffolk BOCES H.B. Ward Technical Center at 970 N Griffing Ave. in Riverhead, according to a health department release.

The announcement came nearly one month after a dead raccoon discovered in North Amityville on Jan. 28 tested positive as the first case of rabies in a land mammal in Suffolk in 16 years, Newsday previously reported.

Neighboring Nassau County counted six rabid raccoons including one that bit a resident in Massapequa Park on Dec. 29, plus a pair of infected feral cats, since last summer, Newsday previously reported. County officials previously pointed to New York City’s decision to stop setting rabies vaccine bait along its western border with Queens as a possible reason for Nassau’s spike in positive cases.

The Nassau and Suffolk health departments typically host multiple rabies vaccination clinics at various locations each year. Suffolk health officials were not immediately available to discuss whether the discovery of rabies in a raccoon last month influenced the scheduling of the clinic.

The clinic is free for all Suffolk County residents, but appointments are necessary due to the limited quantity of the vaccine, according to the release. To make an appointment for free rabies vaccination, pet owners can call 631-208-2015 Mondays through Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Cats and ferrets must arrive in carriers and dogs must be leashed.