Rabid raccoon found at Germantown camp

No one at the camp had any physical contact with the raccoon, said Evelyn McEwan, president and administrative director of Valley Mill. McEwan said the raccoon appeared ill when it was found by a staff member at the 60-acre camp at 15101 Seneca Road.

"Various members of the administration went down to observe the animal. We thought maybe he had been in a fight," McEwan said.

Staff members coaxed the raccoon into an ashcan where it was kept until county animal control officers took it away, McEwan said.

The camp's leaders e-mailed parents of children at the camp Friday night after receiving confirmation that the raccoon was rabid, she said.

McEwan said staff members found no signs of other rabid wildlife in the camp. The camp remains open and followed its normal activity schedule, she said. The raccoon was the first rabid animal discovered at the camp since it opened at its current site in 1973, she said.

Suzanne Gust, rabies coordinator for Montgomery County, said about 60 animals in the county have been found to be rabid so far this year, about 85 percent of them raccoons. The rest were bats, foxes and groundhogs, she said.

Anyone who had contact with a raccoon in the area of the Valley Mill Camp should call county officials at 240-777-1755.