Toronto Public Health officials issued a health alert Wednesday night after hundreds of flea market shoppers may have been exposed to three rabid puppies for sale, including one which has forced a Brampton family and a Toronto Humane Society worker to receive emergency treatment.

It is the first time Toronto in 20 years that the city has experienced a rabid dog, said Dr. Rosana Pellizzari.

One of the puppies – an eight-week old border collie – was purchased on the weekend of Jan. 12-13 from Dr. Flea’s on Albion Rd. and Hwy. 27. The pup, purchased by a Brampton woman for her young son, became very sick and was handed over as a “medical surrender,” said senior THS investigator Tre Smith.

The dog died Jan. 14 in custody of the THS and two days ago an autopsy discovered it was infected by rabies.

Smith warned those who may have come in contact with the dogs and the “unscrupulous” seller at the flea market to get checked out because rabies is a highly contagious disease that can cause death in humans and animals if they are bitten and don’t receive immediate treatment.



“We are not exactly sure how many people came in contact with this animal at Dr. Flea’s,” said Smith. “But we are assuming it could be upwards of hundreds of people who walked by and petted the animal.

“They may have been inadvertently nipped on the hand, and thought, ‘Oh puppies just do that’ and it is a very, very serious health issue now,” said Smith.

Toronto Public Health officials issued a public health alert about the dangers and urged those who petted or came in contact with the dogs to contact them immediately at 416-338-7600.

Public health officials said they know about a second rabid dog that died shortly after being purchased and were still searching for those who purchased the third dog. No more information about the other two dogs was available.

Read story here:

http://www.torontosun.com/News/2008/01/23/4789971.html

 Quote:

Smith said the dog and two others, which sold at the flea market for $200, came from a puppy mill in the Grey-Bruce Peninsula area northwest of Toronto.

Will people never learn?

This is horrible and I hope a lot of innocent people don't suffer because of this.

It is horrible, I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around how 8wk old puppies could get rabies, obviously before 8 wks of age?

Any number of ways. Being that they were raised in a puppy-mill chances are they were not inside. Bats, racoons, skunks, and other wild animals are vectors for rabies.

So far as if the seller knew, I am guessing that they didn't have a clue. There is an incubation period for the disease and the pup was likely sold in that window of time.

The breeder is not too far from me and it's cold here, but it's quite possible they were outside. The facts will come out shortly, I'm sure.

Scary stuff!
I cant imagine leaving baby pups under 8 weeks outdoors period, much less in the winter in Canada.
Even if they were indoors a rat or something of similar size could bite them I guess.

I just noticed that the pup died two days after being bought?? You'd think it looked sick the day of the sale. Strange.

Okay, now they've said since Jan. 5, that makes more sense. They've also linked the cause as the mother of some of these pups who'd gotten into a fight with a rabid skunk.

http://www.680news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20080124_164157_3236

I was shocked when i heard about that on the news yesterday.

And good point about the pup should've been acting sick.

The only thing I could think of is if the people that bought the puppy had never owned a dog before and didn't think the way the pup was acting was abnormaly.

Think of the consequences though....I know that flea market is SWARMING with people. Scary to think just how many people came into contact with those pups. Plus I THINK people are allowed to bring their dogs to this market (can't quite remember though).

Well it is possible that the pup didn't die of rabies but of something else and just happened to be infected with rabies as well. It's also possible that the rapid test results were a false positive. The best rabies test involve the entire dog head being sent to the lab which at least here with raccoons and cats takes a couple weeks to get back. Usually if there is genuine concerns such as a bat or raccoon bite we send the person for the shots anyways since it no longer involves the 6 inch needle to the gut as a requirement. Normally dogs dying of rabies is pretty obvious with the twitching, drooling, glassey eyed gaze and temperature through the roof.