Toronto Public Health is seeking the public's assistance in locating a woman who took a rabid bat to the Toronto Wildlife Centre earlier this month.

"We are asking the individual who recently took a bat to the Toronto Wildlife Centre to contact Toronto Public Health immediately," Dr. Rosana Pellizzari, Associate Medical Officer of Health, said in a public-health statement.

"People can become easily infected with rabies if they are scratched or bitten by an infected bat, and this individual may need to be vaccinated."

Pellizzari warned humans can also become infected if a rabid animal's saliva comes in contact with open cuts or with the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose or eyes.

The woman turned the injured animal into the Wildlife Centre, located near Sheppard Avenue and Keele Street in North York, on Sept. 4.

After testing the animal, it was found the bat was infected with rabies.

Nathalie Karvonen of the Toronto Wildlife Centre says rabies is something residents need to always be aware of when in contact with wild animals.

However, she said that the general populous should not be alarmed because the disease is still quite rare.

"There is about one per cent of the bat population that actually develops the disease rabies, so, even in the bat population it's really uncommon," Karvonen said on Sunday.

Toronto Public Health warns contact with bats can increase during the fall as the animal seeks refuge from plummeting temperatures and a warm place to hibernate.

Rabies is treatable with a vaccine if it is administered shortly after coming in contact with the disease. If left untreated, rabies can be fatal.

Raccoons, foxes, skunks, coyotes and bats are common sources of the rabies virus in Ontario.

With a report from CTV's Roger Petersen