On this date in 1937, Dr. W. W. Chandler, chief inspector of the Orange County Health Department, imposed a ninety day quarantine on Seal Beach dogs in response to three diagnosed cases of rabies. Police Chief Lee Howard instituted a door-to-door canvass to notify residents that their pets should be confined during the quarantine.
When the quarantine was launched, eight people had been bitten by dogs diagnosed as rabid. The bite victims, John Burkhart, John Rainey, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Kobernik and their two children, Eldridge and Carolyn, Mrs. Gladys Curtis and Bill Lucas were instructed to take Pasteur treatments.
The three rabid dogs belonged to families living on Main Street. One, a small black dog was suspected of attacking other dogs before being captured and put down. The second rabid dog, a mother with a litter, had been killed when she ran amok several weeks before the quarantine. The third dog, a small white-haired pup from her litter, was still at large.
– Michael Dobkins
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