PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Laboratory tests have ruled out rabies as the cause of death for a brown calf that died Friday, the second of two calves that died near a Tiverton ice cream shop.
But the brown calf's cause of death has not yet been determined -- and the news does not change the Health Department's advice for people who came in contact with the black-and-white calf that died July 21 in a pasture next to Gray's Ice Cream shop.
People who came in contact with that calf, known as Oreo, between July 5 and July 21 should to call the Health Department at 222-2577 to find out if they should receive rabies shots. Oreo died shortly after biting a child, but word of its death did not reach authorities in time to test the calf for rabies. Rabies remains a possibility for Oreo.
Oreo was removed from direct public contact on July 16, and only the animal's handlers may have been exposed from July 16 through July 21.
Any individual who had physical contact with the calf prior to July 5 is not at risk for rabies from that contact.