Twenty-eight animals tested positive for rabies in Ontario last month, according to new data from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

According to the CFIA’s report, the latest tally includes 16 raccoons, seven skunks and five bats.

Through the first nine months of 2016, 222 cases of rabies have been confirmed in animals in Ontario.

While raccoons make up the bulk of the cases, the total also includes dozens of bats and skunks, one fox and one cat.

Most of the cases have centred around Hamilton and nearby communities like Brantford and Caledonia – the latter of which is where one man was bitten by the rabid cat.

The outbreak is believed to have started with a rabid raccoon that somehow made a 500-kilometre journey to the area from southeastern New York state.

It came to light last December, when an aggressive raccoon got into a fight with two dogs in an animal control van in Hamilton.

Only 24 Ontario animals tested positive for rabies in all of 2015, with nearly half of those cases coming in December.

With files from The Canadian Press