Last Friday, Owen Montgomery spent the day in a helicopter, flying over Burlington and surrounding towns and dropping more than 30,000 packets of frozen rabies vaccines.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services program that Montgomery works with does this every summer to try to manage rabies in raccoons, skunks and foxes across the state. But this is the first year in over two decades there鈥檚 been an in Vermont. That鈥檚 because of a localized rabies outbreak in Chittenden County wildlife.
鈥淚t all started in March of 2021 in Williston, there was a skunk at a housing development,鈥� Montgomery said. Since then, about two dozen raccoons, skunks, and foxes have in the greater Burlington area. Before that, there hadn鈥檛 been a rabies case outside a bat in the region in years.
鈥淭here were several weeks last year where we would just always get a positive,鈥� said Dr. Natalie Kwit, a veterinarian at the Vermont Department of Health. 鈥淚t was kind of like, 鈥極h no, here鈥檚 another.鈥欌��
It鈥檚 not clear why the rabies virus has taken off in wildlife around Burlington 鈥� the population of raccoons and skunks around the city has grown in recent years, and the mandatory composting law could be providing the animals with a steady food source.
So far, Kwit said there hasn鈥檛 been evidence that people or pets in the region are getting exposed to rabies more often. But that鈥檚 the concern, and why the federal agency green-lit a plan to spread nearly 40,000 packets of rabies vaccines from Milton to South Burlington by helicopter, vehicle, and hand last week for wildlife to find.
The bait is small and pungent. They鈥檙e covered with a sticky brown coating to attract animals. 鈥淭his one actually smells pretty lovely,鈥� Kwit said. 鈥淚t smells like a Nilla wafer.鈥�
Inside is a pressurized packet filled with liquid vaccine. When an animal bites into it, it squirts in their mouth.
"It's a live adenovirus vaccine that triggers the antibody response in the animal," Montgomery explained. The vaccine becomes inactive very quickly in the environment.
He emphasized there are not environmental or public health hazards to the vaccines. "This has been tested and tested and tested a long time," he said. "If it wasn't safe for the environment, then trust me, they wouldn't let us do it."
Not all of the vaccines get to their intended targets. Squirrels take them, and so do possums and feral cats. 鈥淭here are trees that have got to be full of these baits in the city,鈥� Montgomery said.
He estimates about 20% of the packets he drops will reach the raccoons, skunks and foxes he wants to inoculate.
鈥淭he reason for putting that amount of density of baits on the landscape is to afford an opportunity to all of our target animals to possibly find one and uptake the bait.鈥�
He's getting ready to do the whole thing again in August.
For the Vermont USDA Rabies Hotline, call 1-800-4-RABIES (1-800-472-2437) or 1-802-223-8690.
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