A five-year-old girl bit by a squirrel on campus Monday is not in danger of rabies, according to Carbondale animal control officer Cindy Nelson.

University police said the girl was bitten near the SIUC Washington Square Complex while feeding and attempting to pet the squirrel at 10:50 a.m. July 24. Police said she was taken to Memorial Hospital where she was treated.

Cindy Nelson said the squirrel was destroyed and tested negative for rabies at the State Health Lab.

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Jackson County Animal Control Officer Lloyd Nelson said the state of Illinois requires that all wild animals involved in a human bite be destroyed and tested for rabies.

He said ferrets, wolf hybrids, hamsters and gerbils are considered wild animals even though they are sold in pet stores.

Mr. Nelson said there was an outbreak of rabies in the skunk population in the early 1980s, but over the last five years no more than three cases of rabies were reported in Jackson County, and none of them were in skunks.

He said only two cases of rabies were reported in 1994, and no cases have been reported this year.

see SQUIRREL, page 5