BEL AIR, Md. — Many love the great outdoors here in Maryland, but recently it has come with a measure of risk, like a pair of attacks at Cunningham Falls State Park.
“They had the beavers there and I guess someone got bit over there,” said Kelly Reid as she walked the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air, “I think it was that teenager that was 13.”
A spike in rabies has also raised an alert in Harford County according to Bonnie Harbin at the county health department.
Several people have reported attacks by rabid raccoons on their pets.
“So we’ve had 22 positive animals this year. That’s the highest in the state,” Harbin told us, “So 16 of those have been raccoons.”
In a bid to prevent the spread of rabies, the county is launching a pilot program to vaccinate raccoons in the wild.
“We’re going to be putting out about 15 thousand baits,” explained Harbin, “So there’s two different kinds of baits. There’s a fish meal polymer. It’s a small brown briquet that has a fish meal coating and inside of that is a packet of vaccine. The other version is our coated sachet, which is another packet of vaccine that has a light coating of fish meal on it. It’s a little bit easier for the younger raccoons to eat.”
The oral vaccines have been in use for a quarter of a century, and Harbin says health workers will distribute them through parks and woodlands throughout the county.
While both humans and their pets should avoid the baits, they pose little risk to their health and the live vaccine is safe for the raccoons as well.
“It sounds like a decent program if you’re going to do it safely and you’re protecting us and my pets,” said Kris Pollard of Bel Air who was out walking her dog on the trail, “It sounds like a good program.”
“Anything to keep anyone safe,” added Reid, “You know. No one wants to come out here and get bit by someone and then have to go to the emergency room and have to get shots.”
