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Wild Animals

Wild animals accounted for 92.4 percent of reported cases of rabies in 2015. Bats were the most frequently reported rabid wildlife species (30.9 percent of all animal cases during 2015), followed by raccoons (29.4 percent), skunks (24.8 percent), and foxes (5.9 percent).

The graph shows cases of rabies among wildlife reported in the United States by year and species from 1966 to 2015. Wild animals accounted for 92.4 percent of reported cases of rabies in 2015. For the first time bats were the most frequently reported rabid wildlife species (accounting for 30.9 percent of all animal cases during 2014), followed by raccoons (29.4 percent), skunks (24.8 percent), and foxes (5.9 percent).

Although cross-species transmission of rabies does occur (for example infection of domestic dogs with the raccoon rabies variant), rabies virus variants are primarily transmitted within a single species that is the reservoir of that variant. Rabies virus variants associated with the major mesocarnivore species (such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, and mongooses) are distributed in distinct geographic regions.

The figure shows a map of major rabies virus variants among mesocarnivores in the United States and Puerto Rico for 2008 through 2015. Black diagonal lines represent fox rabies variants (Arizona gray fox and Texas gray fox). Solid borders represent 5-year rabies virus variant aggregates for 2011 through 2015; dashed borders represent the previous 5-year aggregates for 2010 through 2014.

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