Two rabies cases have been confirmed as positive in Gloucester County in recent weeks.

The Gloucester Health Department was notified of the most recent confirmed case—the seventh this year—on Nov. 15, said M.B. Sheppard, environmental health supervisor for the local health department and Three Rivers Health District. The local department received confirmation of the sixth positive rabies case on Oct. 29.

In the most recent case, Sheppard said Wednesday, a dog in the Roanes area was exposed to rabies by a raccoon on Nov. 13. Since the dog’s rabies vaccinations had expired, he said, the dog will receive a booster shot and undergo strict isolation in a special cage on the owner’s property for six months.

The owner was given a choice of keeping the dog in isolation or euthanizing the pet, Sheppard said.

The other incident occurred Oct. 24 in the Adner/Lee’s Neck Farm area of Gloucester. Sheppard said two dogs were exposed to a skunk, which a department report described as “behaving abnormally.”

The property owner shot the skunk, Sheppard said, and the dogs were current on their rabies vaccinations, received booster shots and will undergo a 45-day observation period.

“You don’t want to attract wild animals” to your property, Sheppard said, so you should properly cover trash receptacles and not leave pet food storage containers or feeding dishes outside that might attract wild animals to your yard.

“Rabies is out there, “Sheppard said, “and you don’t want to make it convenient for the (wild) animals.”