Local health officials are on the lookout for a white poodle mix that bit two Bibb County residents last week.
Donna Cadwell, an official with the Macon-Bibb County Health Department, says if the dog--possibly mixed with Bichon Frise--is not found, then state guidelines require they assume it has rabies.
That means the two people the poodle bit--an adult and a child--will be given shots for "post-exposure rabies prevention," according to a Wednesday press release.
A man took the poodle home and considered keeping it as a pet, but over the course of a couple days, he and a neighbor's child were bitten.
He returned the poodle to the woman that gave him the dog, Cadwell said, and she in turn gave it to a woman in the Walmart parking lot on Zebulon Road.
The new recipient of the poodle, whose identity is not known, said she would take it to a shelter in Jones County if she did not want to keep the dog.
As of late Wednesday afternoon, Cadwell said Jones County officials had not located the dog.
If the poodle is found, officials will quarantine it and if it is still alive after a 10-day period, then the man and child who were bitten will not need the preventative shots.
According to the press release, rabies can be prevented by post-exposure vaccination, but once a person has rabies, there is no treatment and it is usually fatal.
Please contact Donna Cadwell at 478-749-0121 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. or email anytime to dwcadwell@dhr.state.ga.us if you have this animal or may know where the animal is located.