s our animals are vaccinated) between us and the wildlife reservoir. The problem with the current rabies epizootic (epidemic in animals) in the coyote population is the close proximity that coyotes tend to have with humans. We may not be able to rely on our domestic animals to act as the barrier because the coyote will bring the disease right to us. There is also concern, not only about the spread of rabies to humans, but also to different animal species such as livestock herds and other wild animals.II. BACKGROUNDRabies has always been enzootic (endemic in animals) in the Texas wild animal populations. The positive numbers rise and fall each year, depending on the population numbers, favorable weather and overall health of the animal reservoir. The sudden upsurge, however, of positive coyote rabies cases was alarming. Throughout 1994, the rabies virus spread north, out of Mexico, at a before unheard of rate. At about the same time on the east coast, there was ongoing work on a program to vaccinate the wild fox population. The State of New Jersey had documented an increased number of rabies positive foxes during 1993 and 1994. Canada and some European countries had previously enjoyed a great deal of success in controlling fox rabies with an orally delivered rabies vaccine. New Jersey was able to get the oral vaccine product approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The New Jersey state public health department undertook what turned out to be a very successful program of spreading baits, laced with the oral vaccine. The program dramatically reduced the incidence of rabies in wild foxes. The State of Virginia had also performed a field study of a similar program to control raccoon rabies on a island, off the coast of Virginia. Several raccoons were later captured from the island and tested for an immune level to rabies. The raccoons were shown to have high protectiv...
