Raccoon rabies is 300 meters from Quebec

An amusing, mischievous, mischievous little mammal, with its black mask around its eyes, the raccoon, from the state of Vermont, carries the rabies virus and the animal is approaching the borders of Quebec.

“The risk of introducing raccoon rabies is high. A case has just been detected in Vermont, in the municipality of Highgate, 300 meters from the Quebec border, near Saint-Armand,” confirms the biologist responsible for the file, Marianne Gagnier.

In an interview on the show and in the podcast “Rendez-Vous Nature”, the scientist specifies that since March 2022, at least 30 cases of rabies have been detected in raccoons in this southern state, neighboring Estrie.

Origin unknown

Cases of raccoon rabies have already been recorded in Quebec from 2006 to 2009 and one in 2015.

The Ministry responsible for Wildlife has carried out control and vaccination operations on raccoons to eliminate this variant of rabies.

“This is not our first episode of fear in Quebec. It is not known where the disease originated in Vermont. In the United States, similar vaccination operations are also being carried out and they have managed to keep the epidemic away from the border with Quebec. Then in 2022, without knowing why, there was an increase in cases in Burlington, 60 km from the border. Unfortunately, rabies entered an unvaccinated sector of the territory and it spread to the gates of Quebec in 2024,” relates Marianne Gagnier.

But here, with this case detected just 300 meters from the Quebec border, Ms. Gagnier calls on the citizens of the Haut-Richelieu and Brome-Missisquoi MRCs to be very vigilant towards wild animals, especially in the municipalities near the borders.

“And note raccoons, skunks, and foxes whose behavior seems abnormally aggressive, disoriented, paralyzed, moribund or dead, which could be carriers of rabies.”

Extensive air and land operations

However, the ministry responsible for Wildlife has spared no effort to stop the spread of raccoon rabies in Quebec.

Two large raccoon vaccination operations were conducted in August and October, 2024, in the air and on land.

From August 7 to 12, 2024, planes flew at low altitude, over 1,934 km²to drop 212,900 rabies vaccine baits, targeting 21 municipalities in Estrie and 11 municipalities in Montérégie.

Meanwhile, from August 10 to 24, 2024, manual bait application was carried out in agricultural areas and areas likely to harbor raccoons, skunks and foxes.

Teams from the Ministry crisscrossed a territory of 2,092 km² to spread 146,700 vaccine baits, in 11 municipalities in Estrie and 31 in Montérégie are targeted.

Then a 3^e distribution of vaccine baits, still in Estrie and Montérégie, took place from October 28 to 1^is November 2024.

“A vaccine bait looks like a sachet of greenish ketchup which gives off a sweet smell which attracts the species concerned. Its camouflage color confuses the bag with the environment and makes it very difficult to spot by humans. If by chance a person handles a sachet, they must wash their hands and contact the telephone number on the back of the bait and/or call Info-Santé 811.

To hear this interview with the biologist responsible for this raccoon rabies file, at the ministry responsible for Wildlife, Marianne Gagnier, click the link above.