Maine expanding program to vaccinate raccoons in the wild
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PORTLAND, Maine — Wildlife officials are boosting a program to vaccinate raccoons in the wild in an effort prevent the spread of rabies in Maine and northward into Canada.
About 351,000 oral rabies vaccination baits are going to be distributed over a 2,400-square-mile area in northeastern Maine between Aug. 3 and 7, said Emily Spencer, of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That compares to 125,000 doses over a 900-square mile area last year.
One of the reasons for the program’s expansion is to prevent the northern spread of raccoon-variant rabies that has been found north of the border in parts of Canada where rabies has been absent for a couple of decades, said Dr. Michele Walsh, Maine state veterinarian.
But the program also benefits Maine, where there already have been 30 cases this year of animal rabies in 15 of Maine’s 16 counties, she said.
