Baby foxes in Loudonville - Why don't we have an ORV program in our region?
To the delight of most folks in my neighborhood, a local fox mom has recently had a litter of kits. The photos are of one of enjoying the sunshine on my deck. They are noisy but incredibly cute. The kits wrestle with one another just like puppies or kittens.
Being paranoid, this got me looking into rabies. Turns out lots of local environmental authorities have programs for vaccinating wild critters. According to the nice folks who answered by call at Albany County Department of Health, no such programs exist around here. When I asked, they recommended "Call your local animal control."
USDA and local partners use oral rabies vaccination (ORV) baits for wildlife including foxes, raccoons, and coyotes. These are small bait packets containing vaccine, often with fishmeal coating or inside fishmeal-polymer blocks to attract wildlife. When the animal chews the bait, the vaccine is released. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6214a3.htm
This sounds like a really good idea, and apparently such programs have been quite successful, especially in Europe, but what I know about wild life management could fit tidily on a post-it. Should we have a ORV program around the Albany area so that we can enjoy local the proximity of local wildlife with a reduced risk of rabies for our families and pets?