Rabid cow attacks farmer - FOX Carolina 21
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A North Georgia farmer is doing OK after being attacked by one of his cows and was later told she had rabies. It happened a few weekends ago in Jackson County near Commerce.
Raymond Parks said he has been seeing rabid skunks dead along his street and even shot one recently when he saw it running around in circles. He said a rabid bobcat bit his neighbor's dog. But, he said, after 40 years of working with cattle, he's never heard of a rabid cow.
Parks said he went to check the cow after noticing she wasn't letting her calf nurse. He said the cow charged at him, knocked into his side, broke some ribs and pushed him under his barbed-wire fence. He said the wire cut the back of his head.
"They was all tame… she was nervous all the time, but that's the reason I didn't run," said Parks. "I didn't think she was coming to me! I was fooled!"
He said the cow eventually fell onto a post and stopped charging. Parks said because it was the MLK holiday weekend, the health department couldn't send a vet to kill the cow until Tuesday.
"She wasn't foaming right then ‘til the next morning when it was dripping on the ground," said Parks.
He said the cow's head was examined by researchers at the University of Georgia, who confirmed it was rabies. Parks said the baby of the cow seems fine so far, but the health department quarantined the baby along with 11 cows and six other calves, which were in the same pasture as the rabid cow.
After finding out the cow did have rabies, Parks has been getting rabies shots. He said he had four that first day, two since then and has his last is scheduled for Saturday.
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