Rabies vaccination | Operation raccoon

The increase in cases of animal rabies in northern Vermont worries Quebec authorities, who are carrying out a raccoon vaccination operation this week in Estrie and Montérégie. The Press attended it.

(Saint-Armand) “That’s a guaranteed success! », enthuses Guillaume Tremblay as he places some vaccine bait on the bank of a small river, dotted with numerous traces of raccoon paws.

“It’s a highway full of coons,” illustrates the wildlife technician from the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks (MELCCFP).

“As soon as you put a vaccine there, it is sure that it will be eaten the next night,” said in a confident tone the one who coordinates in the field the vaccination campaign against raccoon rabies carried out since Monday in the Lake Champlain Valley.

This region straddling Estrie and Montérégie is “the natural gateway” for the virus, which is well established south of the border, explains biologist Marianne Gagnier, provincial coordinator of rabies surveillance and control at the MELCCFP.

Cases of animal rabies have been on the rise in Vermont since 2022, with around forty cases recorded per year, including one 10 kilometers from Quebec, mainly among raccoons and skunks, which share the same habitats.

“The Americans brought out the heavy artillery” to slow down this new spread, the cause of which is unknown, says M^me Gagnier, and the Quebec authorities are doing the same to establish a vaccine barrier.

M^me Gagnier points out that rabies is fatal in humans, in 100% of cases as soon as symptoms appear – hence the importance of having treatment administered quickly after a suspicious bite, recalls. she said.

A territory of 600 km² targeted

Around fifteen MELCCFP employees are busy distributing vaccine bait over an area of ​​600 square kilometers.

The targeted territory runs along the border that separates Quebec from Vermont; this is also where most Quebec cases have been recorded in the past.

The manual spreading technique was chosen, because it is more targeted, but another operation is planned for August, notably by aerial spreading, to cover a larger territory, in order to vaccinate the babies born this spring.

“We take all the roads that are suitable for vehicles, we go wherever we can go,” explains Guillaume Tremblay, at the wheel of a large van in the colors of the Quebec government, on the lookout for places conducive to raccoons: hollow trees, banks of watercourses, piles of branches or stones, undersides of galleries, as well as abandoned buildings and vehicles.

Sitting next to him, trainee Marika Roberge throws bait into the ditches through the window of the moving vehicle.

Resembling green ravioli and giving off a sweet smell, very tempting for the target animals, these baits contain a liquid oral vaccine.

“The vaccine cannot transmit the disease because it does not contain a living part of the virus,” explains Marianne Gagnier.

The team then stops at a farm and, after obtaining the agreement of the owner of the premises, places the bait in the numerous agricultural buildings.

“That’s a great place, with the hay bales,” exclaims Guillaume Tremblay while looking for signs of raccoons passing by.

“I have a latrine here,” he exclaims, showing numerous feces, and explaining that raccoons are used to relieving themselves in the same place.

Endless beginning

Vaccination campaigns against raccoon rabies make it possible to immunize 45 to 65% of the animal population in a region, show blood samples taken from animals captured subsequently to detect virus antibodies.

But since raccoons have a life expectancy of two to three years in the wild, the population renews quickly and vaccination always has to start again, explains Marianne Gagnier.

It is by autopsying 700 to 1200 animals each year, sick or injured animals which are euthanized or which are found dead, mainly raccoons, that the MELCCFP determines the number of cases of rabies in Quebec – brain analysis is the only way to determine the presence of the virus.

“It’s not perfect surveillance, but the decrease in cases gives a good indication [de la situation] », explains Marianne Gagnier.

She also invites anyone observing an animal showing symptoms of rabies, which is abnormally aggressive, suffering from paralysis, disoriented or having convulsions, to make a report.

To report a suspicious animal, visit the website: quebec.ca/rageduratonlaveur or call 1 877 346-6763.