Colorado Rabies
Law
The idea of a rabid animal is a frightening one, especially for pet owners. Like all U.S. states, Colorado has passed laws to contain and prevent the spread of rabies. The laws cover the most critical issues of reporting possible cases, confining possible cases and overseeing inoculations through the various levels of government.
Reporting Possible Cases
When any animal in Colorado is known or suspected to have come in contact with rabies, its owner or any one else aware of the matter must report it and provide the animal's location to a local, municipal or county health department.
Colorado requires any health-care provider who treats or knows of a person who has rabies or may have rabies to alert health authorities.
Animal Confinement
When someone is bitten by an animal, Colorado authorities confine that animal until a health official examines it. Any temporary quarantine of the animal must be paid for by its owners.
Colorado also requires confinement of any animal suspected of having rabies; it applies guidelines similar to those in biting cases.
Inoculation Laws
Colorado encourages its districts and counties to order inoculations for pets against rabies. When a district decides to do so, authorities there must abide by set rules protecting the pets' health. They cannot, for example, order an inappropriate number of shots within a given time.
If the shots are mandatory in your district or county, pets must be inoculated in order to roam around freely. Authorities have the legal right to "dispose" of stray pets suspected of having rabies or that test positive for rabies. The safest course is always to get your pets inoculated unless it will harm their health.
Waiver Possibility
Colorado allows a veterinarian, with his patient's owners, to submit a formal waiver request. This waiver exempts a professionally examined pet from inoculation against rabies if it can be proved that it would make the animal sick or worsen a condition already affecting it.
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