Raccoon rabies – Citizen-based surveillance is a success

raccoon10Rabies is an important health concern for humans, domestic animals and wildlife throughout Canada.  In 2006, the province of Québec launched a major initiative to eliminate raccoon rabies since its initial discovery in southern Québec.  For the past six years, this program has continued its efforts of surveillance, vaccination and research, all of which rely heavily on public participation and awareness.

The provincial government of Québec recently issued a press release stating that citizen participation has greatly contributed to the success of the raccoon rabies prevention plan. Citizen reports of suspect animals increased by 18% in 2012, and visits to the program website increased by 25%.

Thanks to surveillance and vaccination of wild raccoons, skunks, and foxes, no cases of raccoon rabies were detected in Québec for the 3rd consecutive year.  It remains clear that public participation is key to the continuing effectiveness of the provinces provincial rabies program.

Raccoon rabies Quebec

For more information on the raccoon rabies program in Québec, please visit their  website: www.rageduratonlaveur.gouv.qc.ca [French]

Government of Québec official press release is available here: http://communiques.gouv.qc.ca/gouvqc/communiques/GPQF/Janvier2013/30/c9821.html?slang=en [French]

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4 Responses

  1. Terry Morse says:

    Is there a copy of the raccoon rabies program in English? I am very interested in learning about the program and results but I don’t speak French.

    Thank you

    • CCWHC says:

      Hi Terry. I couldn’t find an official English translation. I put the page through Google Translate and while it is not perfect it is definitely good enough to get the message across. You can read the Google translation here:
      http://goo.gl/oEtc6

  1. 2013-02-14

    […] in the Canadian province of Quebec for the third straight year, and citizen surveillance helped, the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre reports. Citizen reports of potential raccoon rabies cases increased by 18 percent, while visits to the […]

  2. 2013-10-16

    […] animal was recently tested this fall using this procedure. The vaccination protocol used by the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune (MRNF) of the provincial government has so far proved very effective at preventing rabies introduction in […]

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