RABIES BAIT DROP WILL COVER 34 WV COUNTIES

(09/04/2009)

The West Virginia Oral Rabies Vaccination Project is coming to 34 counties, including Calhoun. The bait drop (pictured left) is to vaccinate raccoons against rabies. A bait drop is generally planned during the late summer and early fall. A raccoon is vaccinated by eating a bait containing the vaccine. Baits are dropped in areas where raccoons are likely to find them. The drop is a cooperative effort between the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department, the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Ohio Department of Health, among others. The baits will be dropped along a wide corridor through the central part of the state, extending from the northern panhandle to the southern coalfields. The 34 involved counties included Barbour, Boone, Braxton, Brooke, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Fayette, Gilmer, Hancock, Harrison, Kanawha, Lewis, Logan, Marion, Marshall, McDowell, Mingo, Monongalia, Nicholas, Ohio, Pleasants, Preston, Raleigh, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Taylor, Tucker, Tyler, Upshur, Webster, Wetzel, and Wyoming. The public should encourage children to leave them alone. Pet owners can help by keeping all dogs and cats inside or on a leash so the baits can be eaten by raccoons. The vaccine is not harmful to wild animals or pets. The exposure risk to humans is very slight.

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