Rabies found in surprising areas, including Ballantyne, Huntersville, data shows
Rabies has turned up in surprising places this year, including Ballantyne and Huntersville, according to data Friday from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control.
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The department released updated figures after two people in Ballantyne were exposed to a bat later confirmed to have the potentially fatal viral disease, officials said in a news release.
Officials sent an alert Wednesday night to residents near the 14200 block of Ballantyne Lake Road. No pets were exposed, according to the department.
Anyone with questions about potential exposure should call Communicable Disease at 980-314-9201.
Animal Care & Control also has scheduled a free drive-thru rabies vaccine clinic for Mecklenburg residents from 8 to 10:45 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at 2725 Beam Road in Charlotte.
The clinic is for pets only, and one-year rabies vaccines will be administered.
The case was the eighth in Mecklenburg County this year.
They include two raccoons, in ZIP codes 28277 and 28205; a cat in ZIP code 28205; a coyote in ZIP code 28078; a fox in ZIP code 28036; and three bats in ZIP codes 28209, 28262 and 28277.
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The county had 11 cases in 2025 — six raccoons and five bats — and 14 cases in 2024, including 10 raccoons, a cow, a bat, a cat and a fox.
Elsewhere, multiple baby goats at a North Carolina mobile petting zoo contracted rabies and may have been in direct contact with people while infectious, state health officials said Friday.
Human rabies infections in the U.S. “are extremely rare,” and none have been reported in North Carolina since 2011, according to NCDHHS.
In 2025, the state tested at least 4,000 animals for rabies, and about 6% tested positive, officials said. Most were skunks, raccoons, bats and foxes.
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This story was originally published August 29, 2026 at 3:52 PM.
