HARPSWELL
An unregistered and unvaccinated Harpswell dog that bit a toddler in November tested negative for rabies and was euthanized, animal control officer George Lee Johnson said Wednesday.
On Nov. 13, that dog bit the 5-year-old girl at a home at 300 Long Point Road, Johnson told The Times Record at the time of the incident. On the same day, another Harpswell dog bit a 9-year-old girl in the neck while she was playing outside a home at 235 Cundy’s Harbor Road.
Johnson said Wednesday that both girls recovered from the bites and that he is still monitoring the Cundy’s Harbor pet, which was under quarantine at the home for 10 days after the incident.
On Nov. 15, Johnson told The Times Record that the victim’s parents were considering rabies treatment for their daughter. Johnson said Wednesday that the dog that bit the 9-year-old showed no signs of illness in his monitoring of the pet during and after its 10-day quarantine and that the victim has recovered.
When possible, Johnson said, the Coastal Humane Society will handle such quarantines, but space was not available at the time.
“It’s unfortunately our only choice to have the dog quarantined on the owner’s property,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that the dog has now received its rabies vaccination and registration for the pet is pending.
In his six years on the job, Johnson said that having two such incidents in one day was unusual.
Johnson said most problems he’s experienced lately result from dogs that were raised elsewhere and brought to Harpswell from other places.
“ These two ( dogs) were brought in and (the owners) hadn’t followed the laws or taken proper care of their animals,” Johnson said.
Both owners were fined for having a dangerous dog, Johnson said.
dfishell@timesrecord.com
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