Daniel Wilson, age 8, of Fenwick, Ontario, Canada, for his question:

How do animals get rabies?

Rabies is an infectious disease, which means that a healthy animal can catch it from a sick animal. It is caused by a wretched little germ called a virus, which is much too small to be seen. This virus likes moisture. When an animal is infected, it thrives inside his mouth. The spit, or saliva of an infected animal can spread the infection to another animal. This is how most animals catch rabies.

The poor victim is in such pain that he goes out of his mind. He rushes around trying to bite other animals and even people. If his infected saliva gets into the bite or into another open wound, rabies spreads to the next victim. This is very sad for animals that live in the wild    and we cannot help them. But we can protect our own pets. We just take our dogs and cats to an animal doctor. He gives them a quick anti rabies shot. Then we know that they will be safe, even if an infected animal bites them.