Contributed photo/U.S. Department of AgricultureAUGUSTA — For the 15th year, Wildlife Services, a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, is releasing rabies vaccination baits targeting raccoons in northeast Aroostook County.
Personnel began distributing the oral rabies vaccine Aug. 9 and will continue through Aug. 18. The distribution is part of ongoing cooperative rabies control efforts aimed at reducing raccoon rabies.
In cooperation with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry, approximately 125,000 oral rabies vaccination baits will be distributed by air and ground methods over a 900-square mile area that includes the northeast Aroostook County areas of Mars Hill, Oxbow, Monticello, Bridgewater and Houlton.
Vaccines will be distributed by air in rural wooded areas. Personnel from Wildlife Services will distribute vaccine baits from vehicles in the more populated areas, like Houlton.
The vaccine baits are coated with fishmeal and are distributed in one-inch square cubes or two-inch plastic sachets. Humans and pets cannot get rabies from contact with the baits but should leave them undisturbed should they encounter them.
Since 2003, Wildlife Services has been working to eliminate raccoon rabies from northern Maine because the virus poses a threat to human and animal health. So far this year, 43 cases of animal rabies have been diagnosed in 13 of Maine’s 16 counties in the following animals: raccoons, striped skunks, foxes, woodchucks and bats.
Wildlife Services collaborates with Canadian officials in New Brunswick and Quebec to reduce the presence of rabies across northern Maine and Canada.
Rabies is an infectious viral disease that infects the nervous system of humans and other mammals. It is normally transmitted through a bite of an infected animal. Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms are present, although timely post-exposure treatment is effective in preventing the disease in humans.
This vaccine has been shown to be safe in more than 60 different species of animals, including domestic dogs and cats. Dogs that consume large numbers of baits may experience an upset stomach, but there are no long-term health risks.
If contact with baits occurs, immediately rinse the area affected with warm water and soap.
To help protect themselves and their pets against rabies, residents should keep pets’ vaccinations current, feed pets indoors, and keep garbage cans or other food sources tightly secured.
In addition, Wildlife Services advises: Do not feed, touch, or adopt wild animals and be cautious of stray dogs and cats. Do not relocate wildlife because this can spread rabies into new areas.
Contact Wildlife Services at 1 (866) 487-3297 to report dead or suspicious-acting raccoons, skunks, fox or coyotes in northern Maine. If bitten or scratched by an animal, wash the wound thoroughly with soap and water and contact a health-care provider and the Maine CDC at 1 (800) 821-5821.
For additional information about the raccoon vaccine program, please visit USDA at www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife-damage/rabies or call 1 (866) 4‚Ä“USDA‚Ä“WS (1 (866) 487‚Ä“3297).
The vaccine distribution program is part of the National Rabies Management Program. The funds for this program are federally appropriated specifically to USDA Wildlife Services for rabies management.
