Local News
Texas Resumes Oral Rabies Control Program With Flights Dropping Vaccines
Last week, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced that they were continuing their oral rabies vaccine program this January. “Each winter since 1995, aircraft have dropped packets of rabies vaccine over wild areas of the state to vaccinate wildlife and prevent them from exposing livestock and humans to the deadly virus,” they explain.
In the mid-1990s there was an outbreak of rabies in dogs and gray foxes in Texas. This led to the death of two people and many more needed costly treatment. AgriLife.org says that the government spent $474,000 trying to contain the outbreak, which resulted in research that proved the value of providing an oral vaccine in rural areas. Since the state started their oral rabies vaccine drops via the air, no cases of rabies in dogs nor gray foxes have been reported after 2013.
The Texas Department of State Health Services wants Texans to know that the vaccines do no harm to people, but they shouldn’t be picked up or moved if they’re found since that will make it less likely an animal will come along and eat it. Also, even though this program has greatly reduced rabies outbreaks, domestic animals should definitely still receive rabies shots to be properly vaccinated against the disease. Their protection from the illness is crucial to keeping the state’s animal population safe.
