Rabies vaccine drop underway, with hopes dramatic effect continues

Rabies vaccine has started falling from the sky again, and provincial veterinarian Dr. JimGoltzsays it's working.

The sweet-smelling bait packs arebeing dropped from aircraft in western New Brunswick, from thenorthern border of Carleton County down to Black's Harbour on the Bay of Fundy, to help stop the spread of rabies among foxes, raccoonsand skunks.

In Saint John and Fredericton, thevaccine will be strewn about by hand near hedges and dumpsters.

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"We're hoping that the rabies incursion will be contained within the area where we've been doing our vaccine bait drops," Goltzsaid in an interview.

But already, the vaccine ONRAB, in its third year of action, has brought a dramatic decrease in rabies cases, Goltz said.

The bait drop began in2014 when 24 cases were recorded in New Brunswick. In 2016, there was one case, and this year, the province is aware of three cases, all in skunks in the St. Stephen area.

"We'll just hope that this trend continues," Goltzsaid. "We'll hope that we don't get new cases in, and they don't go beyond areas where we have been vaccinating."

Unfortunately, he said, rabid animals sometimes hitchhike on the vehicles of unknowing drivers and end up outside the target zone for the vaccine drop.

This is partly why the vaccine packs will also be spread around Fredericton and Saint John, "as sort of pillars for further preventive action," Goltz said.

Half the capital city has already been littered with the vaccine, which comes in a tan-colouredblister pack made from ingredients such asmarshmallow, sugar and fat all things the animalslove.

The province will continue dumping the vaccine this week and into next week, with help from the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative of Prince Edward Island, municipalities and First Nations communities.

Enjoying wildlife at a distance

Goltz said the vaccine packs, which smell of maple or vanilla, depending on who's asked, donot pose a risk to pets orhumans.

Andthe packets are well-camouflaged.

"We've done studies where we've actually just tossed them out and then asked people if they could see where the baits were, and most of the time when they're tossed out, people can't see them," he said.

"And most people, their sniffers aren't good enough to sniff them out, but dogs and cats can certainly find them. No animal that eats it could get rabies."

Goltz's biggest concern is that people stay safe around wildlife. They should get their pets vaccinated and be sure to leave wild animals where they are found.

Diseases carried by animals will move where the animals move, so "if you do capture wild animals, don't move them from one location to another," hesaid.

"We hope people will enjoy wildlife, but at a distance."