Just an update to the rabies situation that is taking place right now in the Hamilton area. 5 cases have been determined positive by the Wildlife Research and Monitoring Section (WRMS) and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) as of right now. Additional testing is ongoing and it is possible we will have additional positive cases. Attached is the most recent mapping from WRMS of the cases and how they are managing the situation.

We have not had a positive case of raccoon strain rabies in Ontario since 2005.

Right now we are outside of the surveillance perimeter but that could change if additional cases start to encroach the lower portions of Grey Bruce.

Mitigation that is taking place is the distributing of the ONRAB oral vaccine by hand baiting within urban areas and flying the twin otter over the rural areas. This has been a very productive approach in Quebec to eliminate rabies, hopefully that will be the case in this situation as well.

Suspected rabies MNRF Protocol PDF