Raccoon rabies cases prompt officials to ramp up aerial vaccination efforts

Five confirmed cases of raccoon rabies have been identified in the Hamilton area in the past two weeks, prompting another expansion of an aerial vaccination program throughout the region.

Since the first raccoon was identified in downtown Hamilton on Dec. 4, every other case has been located further south, reaching as far as the small community of York about 30 km away.

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The spread of the deadly disease, which was completely eliminated from Ontario back in 2005, may appear to be migrating south, but that's not necessarily the case, according to Chris Davies, manager of wildlife research for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resource and Forestry.

"I wouldn't say that it's moving, it's just that's where we found the cases," he said in an interview with CBC Radio's Afternoon Drive.

Either way, though, wildlife experts in Essex County are taking precautions. Staff and volunteers at Wings Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Amherstburgwill receive vaccinations just to be safe, said Nancy Phillips, animal overseer at the centre.

"We're not going to take any chances, Hamilton's close," she told CBC News. "We've been very lucky so far, but that could change."

The first rabies case in Hamilton was identified after a raccoon got into a fight with two dogs in the back of an animal control van.

Weather helps disease spread

The recent stretch of warm weather is contributing to the spread of raccoon rabies bypostponingthe start ofthe animal's typical denning period.

As temperatures drop in November, raccoons tend to spend much of their time in dens, but as most of Ontarioexperiences unseasonably warm weather, the animals are still active, Davies explained.

Normally, "they move into wintering dens and they don't travel very much," he said. "When they're not moving around, they're not spreading the disease."

The province has never had to roll out a vaccination program for raccoon rabies this late in the season. This year, though, they introduced an aggressive bait vaccination program that involves dropping bait packs by helicopter.

Raccoons bite into the bait packs and the vaccination is released into their mouths.

Vaccination program expanded

Ministry officials initially executed an intense bait drop program within four kilometres of where each animal was found, followed by low-density bating within a 25-km radius.

That program has been expanded to include a 50-km radius, according to Davies.

"We are concerned because rabies is a serious disease," he said."It has both public health and agricultural concerns with it."

Planned as a precautionary measure initially, the bating will now become a regular monitoring program in the city for at least two years.

The ministry has a stockpile of 500,000 bait packsto draw from in case of an incident like this, Davies said. A second round of vaccine baits will be dropped in the spring and summer, at which time the disease should be controlled.