Rabies continues to spread among the Central Park Raccoon population.  52 raccoons tested positive for rabies city wide in the last two months, with most being in the park.  Please use common sense with these raccoons.  On Saturday, I had to stop a father from letting his son feed a raccoon and had to warn a photographer to keep his distance from a raccoon out in the daylight.

The Parks Department staff put up warning signs in the Ramble and the North Woods in English at the start of the epidemic.  Looking at the distribution map of the last few months, maybe they should consider putting up multilingual warning signs at every park entrance.

The Health Department reminds us that the last New York City rabies case in a human was in the 40s, so there is no need to panic.  Both the Bronx and Staten Island have had rabies outbreaks in raccoons in recent years without humans getting infected.  That said, the Health Department still recommends taking basic precautions against getting our pets or ourselves infected.