Rabies is no laughing matter. It kills tens of thousands of people worldwide every year, in the vast majority of cases in countries with inadequate public health resources (no vaccination available). However, in the US, human deaths from rabies have gone from around 100 a year in the early 20th century to between one and three cases a year nowadays (source: CDC). About one third of those stem from an exposure outside the country, and most of the cases acquired within the US came from a bat bite that was not noticed.
It’s important to know the facts about rabies, since private pest control companies in particular will “spin” the facts to create fear and generate business.
It’s important to know the facts about rabies, since private pest control companies in particular will “spin” the facts to create fear and generate business.
Most animals can contract any strain of rabies, but there are five distinct strains: bat, skunk, raccoon, fox and canine. Among wildlife, raccoons, skunks, bats, groundhogs, foxes and coyotes are particularly prone to the disease. In the Eastern US, raccoons are the animal most impacted. So doesn’t it make sense to trap and kill as many of them as possible in an urban area? Actually no, and there are several reasons for that:
- An estimated 20% of raccoons are naturally immune to rabies. So those immune raccoons serve a very useful purpose as a “buffer” between infected raccoons and humans.
- Add to that the increasing number of raccoons who have been vaccinated through the USDA oral rabies baiting program (see footnote 1) and the size of that natural buffer is increased.
- Given that a clinically rabid animal is unlikely to go for bait in a trap, there is a good chance that trapping will actually remove the healthy and/or immune population, creating a vacuum to be filled by more raccoons. That increases population turnover, which is the worst strategy one can adopt in terms of disease control, since it has the opposite of the desired effect. (see footnotes 2 & 3)
- Being bitten by a rabid animal should not be fatal, because post-exposure treatment is easily available in the US and is 100% effective if started promptly (within 10 days). Deaths have occurred when victims did not realize they had been bitten or refused to be treated. Moreover, contrary to popular belief, rabies vaccinations no longer involve painful injections in the stomach.
- Last but not least, consider this: you are much more likely to be struck by lightning in SW PA than you are to contract rabies here…
Some other interesting facts:
- Seeing a raccoon outside during the day is not necessarily a sign of rabies at all, especially during denning season, when busy mothers are often out scavenging for food. However, if an animal is seen outside in daylight and is acting strange (appearing disoriented, staggering, boldly unafraid of humans, or paralyzed), call the police or animal control and do not approach.
- Only 5 opossums have ever tested positive for rabies in Pennsylvania, and those were all in the years between 1983-85. Granted, a scared, cornered opossum will hiss, drool and show every one of his many teeth, all of which may generate fears of rabies. However, the opossum’s low body temperature makes the animal a very bad host for the rabies virus and they are extremely unlikely to contract the disease.
- Only one person has ever been recorded as contracting and dying from the raccoon strain of rabies in the US, and that individual had had no known contact with a raccoon, ever. The case remains a mystery.
- Oral rabies vaccination programs such as the one implemented annually by the USDA and Allegheny County Health Dept. have been shown to work in controlling rabies. The case of the state of Ohio, which scarcely has any reported cases, shows the effectiveness of these programs. Funding is an issue though. Some of the money wasted on pointless trapping would be well invested in funding broader vaccination programs. It’s just common sense.
- Wild Furbearer Conservation and Management in North America (Novak et al, 1987) provides data that shows that when raccoons exhibit low reproductive rates, you can trap out as much as 49% of the population and they will rebound back to their former level by the next breeding season. When raccoons exhibit high reproductive rates (typical after a trapping program has been implemented), you can trap out as much as 59% of the population and the population will replace itself by the next birthing season. A similar scenario has been observed in coyotes.
- The Center for Disease Control does not recommend the arbitrary killing of raccoons as a strategy to avert rabies. As summarized by Dr. John Debbie, New York Health Dept., “Trapping is an exercise in futility in the face of a rabies outbreak, because the disease itself will limit the population, and clinically rabid animals are rarely caught in traps.” (Rabies Control in Wildlife, 1983)