Targeting raccoon rabies

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(Updated) Wildlife officers are blitzing parts of Hamilton in an effort to contain Ontario’s first case of raccoon rabies in nearly a decade.

Provincial natural resources officials are placing bait packages containing vaccine, about the size of a toonie, around farmland, green spaces and ravines. This is being done in an area in a four kilometre radius from where the disease was discovered after two dogs got into a fight with a rabid raccoon inside an animal control van.

Ever since the case was documented and confirmed last Friday, wildlife officers have been dropping the vaccine by hand and by helicopter. They will also monitor road kill in the area.

The ministry asks residents to remain alert around any raccoons that are acting strangely aggressively or not afraid of humans. The dogs attacked were not up up-to-date with their rabies vaccine; they will remain in quarantine for a three month period.

One resident CHCH News spoke to is keeping an eye out for raccoons, and is worried about his dog’s safety. “I will keep him on his leash and keep him out of the areas that I know, there could be something in there.”

“He is vaccinated, everybody needs to have their dog vaccinated. We have a lot of friends here in the park, and we meet every morning; everybody has their dogs vaccinated too. Even if they are vaccinated a rabid animal can be really vicious. If they don’t get rabies, they can still get ripped up.”

According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, this is the first documented case of raccoon rabies in Ontario since 2006.

Meanwhile GO Transit commuters got quite the surprise this morning: a raccoon snuck on to a westbound train. Commuters were safely taken off the coach and moved to another car.

A GO Transit officer tweeted this photo:

The raccoon stayed on the empty coach until it reached Aldershot station in Burlington. Animal services removed the raccoon without incident. No one was hurt by the surprise visitor.

Image: @GOTyler107 via Twitter