Brownwood Puppies, are they sold this way too ?

3 are treated for rabies exposure
By TRACI SHURLEY
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

STAR-TELEGRAM
Map: Rabid puppy
A pit bull puppy that was sold out of the back of a pickup in a Decatur parking lot about three weeks ago had rabies, and three people are now being treated for rabies exposure, the Wise County Sheriff's Department said Friday.
Authorities are looking for the person who was selling puppies in the parking lot of either the Wal-Mart Supercenter on U.S. 287 South or the nearby Tractor Supply Co. The buyer doesn't remember the exact date, but it was in late April or early May, according to a news release.
The infected dog bit its new owner and his 17-year-old sister this week. The two, along with a toddler who was exposed to the puppy's saliva, are being treated for rabies exposure, said Sgt. Cathy Sides, the Wise County animal control officer.
The buyer did not get the seller's name or where he lives, Sides said. The buyer did see the man sell at least one other dog, she said.
The pickup is a late 1980s or early 1990s model Ford that may be dark blue and is rusted.
The puppy probably contracted rabies from a skunk, Sides said. Infected skunks are known to attack litters of puppies or kittens, she said.
Authorities don't know whether the puppy was infected before or after it was sold.
"That's why we're trying to find these people," Sides said.
The puppy's new owner took it to a veterinarian this week when it began behaving strangely.
Rabies was suspected, and the puppy was euthanized Thursday, Sides said. Its head was shipped to the Department of State Health Services in Austin for testing.
The positive results came back Friday, Sides said.
The new owner, his sister and the toddler will begin a series of shots immediately. That treatment includes one injection of rabies immune globulin and five injections of rabies vaccine, said Doug McBride, a spokesman for the state Health Department. The doses are injected into a patient's arm over 28 days, he said.
A Houston teenager died last week of rabies contracted from a bat that flew into his bedroom.
Doctors believe he was bitten several weeks before he showed symptoms, according to news reports.
The typical incubation period for rabies is three to eight weeks, McBride said.
Sides said officials recommend that buyers of any animal get contact information from the seller and immunization records for the animal.
Help find puppy-seller

Anyone with information about the puppy-seller or the whereabouts of other puppies he sold is asked to call the Wise County Sheriff's Department at (940) 627-5971.
source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/14628200.htm