In historic effort, rabies on Cape Cod again being fought on land and in the air

Cynthia McCormick Cape Cod Times

Published Sep 10, 2021 

The fight against raccoon-variant rabies is again taking to the skies above Cape Cod as part of what is described as the largest such effort in Massachusetts history.

Starting next week, officials will dispense vaccine packets from low-flying helicopters in an historic effort to immunize raccoons and other wild mammals from the deadly rabies virus.

Two federally owned aircraft — either black and red or orange and white — are scheduled to start dropping the oral vaccine packets or sachets off-Cape on Monday, weather permitting, from a height of 300 to 400 feet, said Brian Bjorklund, a wildlife rabies biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The process is expected to start Wednesday or Thursday on Cape Cod, out of Barnstable Municipal Airport. “We’ll be baiting from Lakeville to Orleans,” Bjorklund said.

Waxy vaccine pellets also will be distributed by hand from vehicles in locations along Nantucket Sound and by the Massachusetts Military Reservation. Baits by hand is scheduled to start Sept. 20. Officials also will be stocking bait stations on Buzzards Bay during the distribution. 

A total of 156,000 rabies vaccine pellets and packets will be distributed through Oct. 8 by town, county and federal employees and volunteers, Bjorklund said.

“This will be the largest distribution of oral rabies vaccine bait in Massachusetts history.”

An expanded program

The baiting effort comes on the heels of a similar endeavor in July that was in response to the May discovery of a rabies-stricken raccoon in Hyannis.

It was the first case of terrestrial — or nonbat rabies — on Cape Cod in eight years.

The discovery prompted wildlife officials and the Cape Cod & Southeast Massachusetts Rabies Task Force to expand the geographic and seasonal boundaries of the Cape’s annual spring and fall baiting program.

In addition to adding the July program, officials extended the boundaries of the bait zone up through parts of Orleans. Baits will be distributed in Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth, Mashpee, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Dennis, Brewster, Harwich and Chatham on Cape Cod, and also in Plymouth, Wareham, Carver, Kingston, Middleboro, Rochester, Marion, and Lakeville.

The goal is to keep terrestrial rabies from spreading beyond the raccoon in Hyannis, Bjorklund said. “So far, knock on wood, we’ve only had that one case.”

Rabies was first discovered in Massachusetts in 1992 and first identified on the Cape in 2004. By 2006, it had made its way to Provincetown. The last rabid raccoon on the peninsula was identified eight years ago, also in Hyannis.

When surveillance of roadkill animals and other mammals did not show evidence of rabies, the bait zone was moved closer to the canal and did not extend beyond Route 149 in Barnstable, Bjorklund said.

It will be up to federal rabies management officials whether or not to stick with the expanded bait zone in the future, he said.

Why vaccine is needed

The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention determined through a genetic analysis that the rabid raccoon found in May in Hyannis originally came from across the bridge, Bjorklund said.

“They were able to pull DNA from the actual rabies virus itself and concluded it matched closely with the rabies virus that is circulating in the northern Plymouth County area.”

Bjorklund said he didn’t know if the raccoon was transported to the Cape in a live animal trap or  hitched a ride on an 18-wheeler or trash train. “We want to make sure people know transportation of wildlife is illegal.”

Oral rabies vaccines immunize animals against rabies upon being swallowed. In addition to dispensing the vaccine-impregnated baits, wildlife officials this summer trapped, vaccinated and released 700 raccoons on the Mid-Cape.

Raccoons can spread rabies to other wildlife, pets and people. There is no known cure for the neurological virus, which is almost 100% fatal unless people who have been bitten or scratched receive a series of shots to prevent rabies from taking hold.

The availability of prophylactic treatment has reduced the number of rabies cases in humans to about three per year in the United States, according to Catherine Brown, state epidemiologist and state veterinarian with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

In 2012, Marstons Mills resident Kevin A. Galvin became the first person since 1935 to die of rabies acquired in Massachusetts.

Galvin was bitten by an infected bat, for which no vaccination program exists.

Bait won't hurt pets

Karl von Hone, Yarmouth’s director of natural resources and co-chair of the rabies task force, asked residents to keep their pets leashed and away from any oral vaccine packets or pellets, especially during the two-week distribution program.

“Every dose that is consumed by a dog is considered a loss. It could have gone to an unvaccinated raccoon or coyote,” Bjorklund said. He said the packets cost $1.29 apiece and the blocks or pellets cost $1.50 each.

“The bait itself is not harmful to people or animals,” said Erika Woods, deputy director of Barnstable County’s Department of Health and Environment and co-chair of the rabies task force. If pets swallow them, “it might upset their stomachs,” she said.

Bjorklund said the latest information, a distribution map and daily updates during the oral rabies vaccination bait distribution event will be available on the Cape Cod & Southeast Massachusetts Rabies Task Force’s Facebook page.

People who find baits are asked to call 877-722-6725 so that baiting teams can determine better locations, he said.