Wildlife authorities are air-dropping 600,000 treated baits to create rabies immunity within our raccoon population. The area treated is the far western counties adjacent to Tennessee. The baits are the size of a matchbox and coated in a fish-smelling substance.

I suppose the bait will not harm black bears.

That’s nuts!

They claiming that will work?

Ohio has been doing this since 1996 here is an article from the ohio department of health

https://odh.ohio.gov/know-our-programs/zoonotic-disease-program/news/oral-rabies-vaccination

I’ve found them in the ditches here in Pa.

Charles
This program has been going on for years through USDA and that is why we do not see more rabies in our raccoon
populations. That area has been a hot spot for years and that is why it is targeted. As you know raccoons are the number one rabies vector animal in NC. It does not harm any wildlife because they are just getting the vaccine.

It seems like every month l read about rabid cats, fox and raccoons in the Hampton Roads area of Va. just across our border.

My understanding is that they've been trying to get an immunized barrier established to try to contain and eventually shrink the regions where rabies is endemic.

If this is effective, why not have an oral vaccine for domestic dogs? Or people for that matter. $$ I assume.

Nothing new, i been working on that project since around 2003. It is to keep the raccoon variant from spreading any further west than it already is.

oral vaccines are not necessarily more effective or safer. I think the only oral vaccine I ever had was for polio. Even a 70% effective vaccine is good for wildlife, because the goal is to reduce rabies transmission in the population, not the welfare of indiviual animals. A few sick or dead coons is not a big deal. With humans and pets, the vaccine must be absolutely, 100% effective, especially considering the often delayed onset of symptoms.

We also have vaccine bait programs here because rabies is a big problem. It's dispersed from aircraft and/or given out to game wardens, to scatter around during patrolling.

I'm currently on my 4th rabies shot, out of a 6-shot series. Someone gave me a fox they had shot, to skin, and it was fine until I discovered it had lacerations and crusts on its face, bruised gums, and chipped teeth, and I nicked my hand while skinning. I'm not against dying but I'd prefer a faster, cleaner method than succumbing to rabies. Several districts in our region are currently quarantined due to rabies outbreaks.

Hope all goes well Tatiana.
Do you have access to a vaccine out there? Is the treatment shot the same as the vaccine? Here, if you can justify it, it’s free and trappers are on the list. However, Covid created a lot of anti vaccination people out there.
For the average person, the odds are slim of contracting it, but we’re not average.
The odds of me being attacked by a shark are incredibly slim, but I’ll bet they’re a lot higher for a surfer…….lol

Vaccine is free, the same vaccine is used for emergency shots and for planned vaccination, but it's 6 shots vs 1. If you have deep or large wounds on your hands or your head, you also get serum with antibodies, not to wait until your immune system responds to the rabies antigen in the vaccine.
You can also have the animal tested for free, not to continue the shots if it turns out to be rabies free. I got a call from our analog of the CDC and they questioned me about the fox, and I asked them if they needed the carcass but the lady must have missed my question, because a week later she called and asked if I still had the fox, so rabies is not taken lightly by the authorities.

Hunters/trappers, people who work with animals, etc can get vaccinated for free in any outpatient clinic. A few years ago there were some problems with the supply, so the vaccine was not available in some smaller or remote clinics. The first time I got emergency shots, I was living in a remote settlement up north and the nearest hospital with the vaccine was 150 km away, and the road was bad, so my ex only agreed to take me to the hospital once and refused to drive me there for consecutive shots

Few people target foxes here anymore, the raccoon dog is on the rise plus the animal rights legislators from Moscow (lobbied by of shelter funds embezzlers) have gotten several laws approved essentially forbidding the culling of feral gogs, so rabies is rampant. I'm always ready to die but normal people get attacked, too.

I don't know if you can open it, it's a video from my city from November.

https://vk.com/wall-15755094_48836319

and this is from a couple of months ago:

https://vkvideo.ru/video-38320907_456256150

I cut my thumb while skinning skunks this winter. It was a very small cut and I didn’t feel it when it happened. When I took the gloves off a couple hours later, there it was. Since skunks aren’t to be trifled with, I called my doc and was directed to the local hospital ER. They contacted the state and CDC for their recommendations. CDC said if the cut happened during skinning of the heads, get the shots. If it happened any place else, you could avoid the shots.

Insurance covered it. I took the shots!

Your English still amazes me. You are a very intelligent person, we are lucky to know you........jk

Been doing it here for years.I have found those baits in my yard and on my vehicles.

Ontario had wiped out fox/skunk rabies in the the early 2000 with the airborne drop but raccoon rabies is here now and they actually have people going around a city depositing these little packages in back alleys and parks to help fight it

That’s crazy! Zombie fox. They get habituated to people, then add rabies in the mix and they’re dangerous.
Also didn’t know antis were active in RU. I thought your government wouldn’t pay any attention to their rhetoric.

That's the problem with rabid foxes, raccoons, wolves, etc, they are wild animals but they lose all fear (of humans, traffic) and actually seem to gravitate towards human settlements, climb into people's yards, try to get indoors, etc., and they have this extreme urge to attack and bite. We don't normally see any wildlife in towns, like it happens in Europe, and the first video is from a very urban neighborhood on the edge of Novosibirsk, which is a big city. A nature photographer from my neighborhood actually encountered a "strange" fox last spring in exactly the same area where I have marten traps, maybe 20 km to the south of my home. He thought it was wounded, because it was limping along the road, so he got out to help it (idiot), and spent some time fighting it off with his expensive camera when it attacked him. Cost him an expensive lense hood but he didn't get bitten.

There's also what's called "quiet rabies" when there is no aggression, and it's even more scary, because when it affects pets, people often mistake it for neurological issues or other diseases (such as distemper) and don't get timely help.

And yes, our animal rights people are of the worst kind because they are heavily affiliated with the current lawmakers.

This older video is interesting. Look at its face, it's what made me think rabies, because my fox had a similarly messed up face and chipped teeth.
https://vkvideo.ru/video-53119556_456239356


It's a nice local fox otherwise, I'll have it tanned.

Crazy. I can honestly say, I don’t think I’ve seen an animal with rabies like that. Distemper probably, but not rabies. The carriers showing no signs are the scary ones. Going to conventions, east or west, there’s still some that skin without cheap mechanics gloves. Cheap insurance, that could prevent a real bad experience or save a life.