The US’ Rabies Eradication Efforts
For the last couple of decades, an intense rabies eradication thrust has been underway in the US. This effort has as its target, the vision of having all raccoons being rabies-free by 2053. The effort to eradicate rabies includes a very robust public education campaign. This campaign is designed to inform citizens about the disease and encourage them to do all that is in their power to prevent it. This means getting their pets vaccinated against rabies. If pets are vaccinated then when they come into contact with raid wildlife animals, they will be safe from the diseases; which means that they won’t end up suffering the fatal consequences of rabies or passing it on to other animals and people. Since raccoons are carriers of rabies and they are living among people in such great numbers, the rabies eradication team has decided to target them for vaccination. The more raccoons get vaccinated, the lower the chances are of them passing the disease on to other animals. One of the strategies used to get raccoons vaccinated against rabies is to feed them food with the vaccine hidden inside. They have been using blocks of a fish meal with the vaccine strategically hidden inside. When a raccoon bites into one of these meals, the vaccine package is punctured releasing the medicine which is then swallowed by the raccoon. This effort to vaccinate raccoons through the use of oral medicines has been happening since 1997. The vaccine won’t cure rabies in those raccoons that are already afflicted but it will prevent non-infected raccoons from contracting it.Why Raccoons?
