A terrifying posse of rabid raccoons is invading the outer boroughs of New York City at a breakneck pace, with 20 total cases already logged across Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island — a pace 57% faster than last year, troubling city data show.
By Aug. 20, the Big Apple recorded five cases in Brooklyn, six in Queens and a whopping nine in Staten Island — matching the total for all of 2025, the data show.
Since 2022, Staten Island has recorded 26 confirmed rabies cases — the second-highest total in the city behind Queens, which has reported 39, according to data from the NYC Health Department. In the last five years, Bronx has documented 17 cases, while Brooklyn has reported seven.
Despite Staten Island’s steady caseload, the borough was excluded from a recent city-led oral rabies vaccination effort targeting wildlife, distributing fish-scented bait packets containing rabies vaccine in select parks and green spaces across Brooklyn and Queens.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella said his borough’s exclusion is “playing with people’s well being,” reported SIlive.com. The Post has reached out to Fossella for comment.
Other residents commented that the critters are “constantly in my yard,” and “there are so many houses going up, they have nowhere to go.”
In Manhattan — which has no reported cases of rabies in 2026 and one case from a bat in 2025 — a family of raccoons living in Central Park has become an unlikely tourist attraction, drawing crowds who film, feed and even try to touch the furry creatures.
“How cute!” oozes a comment on one such video, while another says, “That tree apartment is probably costing them $5,000 a month considering the location.”
Bronx retiree Israel Ortiz, 83, has been feeding raccoons from the same bench near the American Museum of Natural History for nearly 20 years.
“I’m here to take care of them,” Ortiz, who brings treats they take from his outstretched hand, told The Post. “If they had rabies, the Park Conservancy would take care of it. They don’t have rabies.”
NYC Parks specifically warns New Yorkers not to feed raccoons and to keep their distance because the animals can carry diseases transmissible to people and pets, including rabies, distemper, bacterial infections, raccoon roundworm and parasites.
If a raccoon approaches, officials recommend “hazing” it by making loud noises, holding your arms high and stomping your feet. Animals that appear dizzy or stumbling should be reported to 911.
Anyone bitten or scratched should wash the wound and seek medical attention immediately. According to the World Health Organization, rabies is 100% fatal without treatment.
It begins with flu-like symptoms, followed by rapid neurological decline that include hallucinations, thrashing, paralysis and foaming at the mouth.
Westchester County resident Frank Maida, 81, knows firsthand what can happen when an encounter goes wrong. In 2019, Maida was bitten while gardening, and ended up receiving a series of painful shots after the animal was found to be rabid.
“I turned around, and it was this raccoon,” he told ABC 7. “He started going for me. I kept kicking him and he wouldn’t leave me alone.”
The raccoon, who had already bitten a neighborhood woman, then bit a man fixing his car in his driveway before being killed with a shovel.
Six years later, seeing people cozying up to Central Park raccoons leaves Maida stunned and appalled.
“Anyone who gets near that family of raccoons in Central Park is downright crazy,” Maida told The Post. “They’re not cute pets. They’re wild animals and they could kill you.”
The city Health Department told The Post: “The NYC Health Department does not advise New Yorkers to approach raccoons or any wild animal. Every year, New York City sees a small number of raccoons test positive for rabies … Feeding raccoons can teach them to rely on and expect food from humans” and this feeding can make them “aggressive and sometimes dangerous.”
“Observe and enjoy raccoons from a distance,” said Gregg McQueen of the city’s Dept. of Parks & Recreation. “Do not approach raccoons or any wild animal, pet them or allow children to approach them.”
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