Humane Wildlife Control: Spread of Diseases Caught in Wildlife

Biologists and health professionals across United States are fighting the war against rabies with marshmallow-flavoured packets of ONRAB, wildlife rabies vaccine bait.

This project pioneered by the Department of Agriculture is part of a long-running campaign to control rabies amongst wild animals in particular raccoons, skunks and other furry critters. Field trials of ONRAB were distributed from New Hampshire, New York, Ohio and Vermont. The vaccines were distributed by hand placement or dropped from a low flying aircraft. With its marshmallow flavour, animals finding the bait will chew on the packets thereby releasing the vaccine into their mouth, which will orally vaccinate them against rabies.  ONRAB wildlife vaccine baits are targeted to raccoons and skunks which were observed to have been not affected by another oral vaccine – Raboral V-RG.

The government’s campaign against rabies started almost a decade ago.  Nonetheless, it was noticed that the increasing incident of rabies contraction were from wild animals and not domesticated ones. Compared to dogs and cats which are annually vaccinated, wildlife is more exposed to rabies and other diseases that may ultimately endanger the safety of everyone in the community. 

Rabies is a virus that attacks the central nervous system. It is commonly transmitted through saliva or bites of infected animals. Animals and humans with rabies exhibit symptoms such as malaise, headache and fever progressing into acute pain, violent movements to more drastic mania, lethargy and coma. The primary cause of death due to rabies is respiratory insufficiency.  Over 60,000 people annually across the globe are affected by rabies. In the United States alone, there are about 6,000-7,000 reported cases, which majority affects wild animals.

Even if the government is taking measures to stop rabies from spreading, citizens should not be complacent.  Upon detection of the presence of wild animals in your own property, immediate actions should be taken to humanely remove them. Specialized human wildlife control, such as Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control, may be employed to ensure health and safety.

Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control is Canada’s largest wildlife control company with the experience of over 200,000 wildlife removals and exclusions. Established in 1989, Skeddaddle Wildlife features top of the line environmentally-friendly, poison-free animal/ pest control and cellulose installation.  The company is licensed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of the Environment, and the preferred choice of Humane Societies and SPCA for humane wildlife control and removal.

http://www.skedaddlewildlife.com/