First I've ever heard of a rabid goat

I guess I'm not surprised a furbearer would sneak into a goat hutch though, even though I have never heard of it happening

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/29/us/rabies-goats-petting-zoo-north-carolina.html

Probably a bat

Carnivores, too. Foxes, stray dogs, wolves have all been documented to attack and give rabies to various livestock.

This February, a rabid cow attacked a veterinary worker in my home region after being bitten by a fox.

It was in our federal news
https://tass.ru/proisshestviya/26316301

Another case was in the area where I trap, also in February, an eight-month old calf started showing rabies symptoms, the area was quarantined for rabies:
https://www.nsktv.ru/news/medicine/...enstva_vozroslo_v_novosibirskoy_oblasti/

another case was this year in Kazakhstan which my region borders, also a fox vs cow:
https://liter.kz/korovy-zarazilis-beshenstvom-ot-lisy-v-vko-1771432070/

There is a traveling petting zoo near Durham, NC. It was just discovered that four of their pet goat were rabid.

That's an islamist"s nightmare.

Keith

Sometimes I wonder if a rabid coon or skunk could enter a pen at night and chew on a goat or sheep ~mineral block

The rabies virus is not a stable one, basically a tiny little bubble, its shell ("envelope") is made of lipids and bursts easily . Once the saliva dries up, it's inactivated. Salt is a powerful desiccant, it destroys the virus almost instantly, so does soap and most antiseptics. It survives freezing though.


Some viruses are "naked" and don't have the lipid shell, and their shell, calles a capsid, is all proteins, very resistant to drying and exposure to the elements overall. Parvoviruses are a good example.

Well done, Keith.
Thank you for the laugh.

Good to know! Thanks, Tatiana!

I wonder if the rabid animal were to drink out of the goat's dish

Rabid animals don't usually drink.

I saw a video on the rabid goats. The owner said a small skunk squeezed in through the wires and attacked and bit the infected goats. They were able to get the skunk out. They didn't find out it carried rabies until days later, when the goats started getting sick.

Keith

A rabid skunk is being blamed. Goats were put down.