Raccoon Rabies Vaccine Operation

05/27/2008

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke would like to inform the community that a Raccoon Rabies Vaccine Operation will take place in Kahnawà:ke on Monday and Tuesday, June 2nd and 3rd.

Two teams from Quebec's Natural Resources Department, working in conjunction with Kahnawà:ke Conservation/Animal Protection, will distribute nontoxic pellets containing tetracycline in wooded areas of the Territory.

"We will probably vaccinate between 70-75 per cent of the raccoons in (the) area this way," said Pierre Canac-Marquis, a spokesman for the Quebec's Natural Resources Department.

Teams will drop bait in hot spots and repeat the exercise in mid- August, when newborn raccoons born this month are able to chew the pellets.

The pellets have been cleared by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and are not harmful if ingested by humans.

As part of a plan to make Quebec rabies free, officials will also concentrate on the area that was affected last year along the Quebec-Vermont border, air dropping bait in mid- August.