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Dog Bite Victim Struggles to Find Rabies Vaccine
Dog Bite Victim Struggles to Find Rabies Vaccine 10/2/12
CBS 7 Reporter
smurray@cbs7.com
October 2, 2012
Odessa, TX - A dog attacks an Odessa woman and overcoming the traumatic incident wasn't even her biggest challenge
"I adore animals,” Bonne Anthony says. “I'm kind of scared of them right now."
The stitches and scars will take time to heal but the dog bite victim says there is one thing she needs as soon as possible: a rabies shot.
The attack happened on September 18th.
"I walked outside, you know, I carry out trash in the mornings and I noticed there's a stray dog coming towards the trash so I had some dog food in the back so I took it and lightly tossed it out there," she recalls. "It had a face like a pit bull but it was white. [It was] real skinny, you could see his rib cage, I felt sorry for him... I don't feel sorry for him no more though."
After the attack, Anthony was forced to get staples in the back of her head and 12 stitches on the side of her face.
"That's where he tore the skin and everything," she describes.
With the dog still on the loose, Anthony says, Animal Control advised her to get a rabies shot just in case.
She claims she called the Ector County Health Department who referred her to the Department of State Health Services office in Midland.
"They just kept giving me the run around,” she claims.
So we picked up the phone ourselves. The Ector County Health Department told us they get the vaccine from the Midland Office and claimed that there was none in supply. The Midland Office never returned our call.
However, less than an hour later, the department contacted Anthony and told her they found the vaccine and she could come by this week for her shot.
"It took them 2 weeks,” Anthony says. “I have lost sleep, lost appetite. I just hope nobody else has to go through this like I did."
The Texas Department of State Health Services office in Austin says the best way to receive the rabies vaccination is from your personal health care provider or doctor. If you don't have insurance, then contact a local health department for assistance.