Distribution of oral rabies vaccine for wildlife in Erie County is scheduled to start this week, the Erie County Department of Health announced. Small green packets of vaccine will be dropped from U.S. Department of Agriculture aircraft in some places and placed on the ground by local Health Department sanitarians in other urban and suburban areas.
Helicopter and ground bait distribution will continue until Thursday, depending on the weather. Dropping of vaccine from fixed wing aircraft in all eight Western New York counties is planned for Aug. 15 to 17, if weather permits.
The packets, about the size of a quarter coin, provide protection against rabies for foxes, skunks, raccoons, woodchucks and other mammals. Most packets are eaten within four days.
People who find vaccine packets should not disturb them. Anyone coming in direct contact with the packets or the vaccine should wash their hands immediately. For a week after vaccine is distributed, residents are advised to supervise children outdoors and to confine dogs and cats to prevent them from finding the packets, although the vaccines are not harmful to pets.
More information is available at the State Department of Health rabies information line at 888-574-6656.
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