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Ontario’s Wildlife Rabies Control Program

Beverly StevensonWildlife Research and Monitoring Section

Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry

Fox Strain Rabies

1958 Rabies firmly established in foxes and skunks in southern Ontario

1947 Baker Lake

1948 Cambridge Bay

1951 Fort Smith

1946 Baffin Island

1950 Baffin Is. N QC

1954 N QC N ON

1956 S ON

Dispersion of ‘Arctic’ Variant rabies into southern Canada

1953

1955

1953

1953

1954 19611966

1961

1945

= 1 Rabid Fox

Southern Ontario Rabies Enzootic 1957 - 1987

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1989

1995

Rabies Cases

2006

Raccoon Strain Rabies 

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Raccoon RabiesSpread

(1984‐2007)

2004-2007

1999-2003

1994-1998

1990-1993

1985-1989

1977-1984

1973-1976

1968-1972

1963-1967

1958-1962

1953-1957

The danger for Ontario

Raccoons in Ontario

• Raccoons are one of the mostsuccessful furbearers in N.A.

• High affinity for human habitat

• Some cities >100 raccoons/km2

• Ontario population ~ 1 million

• PEP is over $2,000

How to protect Ontario?

• Create proactive strategies• Build protective barriers to the 

spread • Have an emergency response 

plan if the disease does enter Ontario 

• Restrict the movement of RVS species 

• More research

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Trap‐Vaccinate‐Release

1) Animals lived trapped 2) Vaccinated for rabies

3) Ear tagged 4) Released at capture site

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Ottawa

Cornwall

Prescott

Kingston ±0 25 5012.5 Kilometers

Legend

Raccoon rabies cases

Raccoon

Skunk

Eastern Ontario

New York StateSt. L

awren

ce R

iver

Wolfe Island

First Case – July 1999

8

39 48

16 16

41 0 0 0 0

0

10

20

30

40

50

1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009

Year

Raccoon Rabies Strain CasesRaccoon Strain Cases in Ontario

• After six years of control efforts, the last known case of raccoon strain rabies in Ontario was in 2005 (until December 2015…)

• All together, Ontario had 132 cases between 1999-2005

• Ontario was considered raccoon strain rabies free

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Fast forward to December 2015… Dec 4th, 2015

Translocation Dec 7th

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Dec 8th Dec 9th

Dec 11th

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• Rapid response baiting took place in December 2015

• Baited by airplane, helicopter and hand

• Over 220,000 baits were distributed between Dec 7 and Dec 23

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ONRAB oral rabies vaccine• Very good vaccination results for all 3 major vector species• First ever field trial in August/September 2006• Delivered in a smaller bait (Ultra‐light)• Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, New York, West Virginia, Ohio

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Where are we now?

• 203 raccoon rabies strain confirmations• Hamilton 173, Haldimand 16, Brant 8, Niagara 6• 141 raccoon, 60 skunk, 1 cat, 1 fox• Over 4,000 animals tested for rabies

• 220k baits in Dec, 630k baits in spring• Over 1.5M baits distributed so far this year• Total 1.7M baits to be distributed in 2016• Several ongoing research projects

Current Positives

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Surveillance

• Importance of partners for sample collection and testing (Health Units, OMAFRA, CFIA, animal control services, OSPCA, local contacts all important)

E. Ont Fall Aerial Baiting

Aug 28, 2016

19,650 baits distributed by fixed wing aircraft

S. Ont Fall Aerial Baiting Urban Ground Baiting

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Negative brain touch impression

Positive reaction (detection of rabies virus nucleoprotein)

DRIT diagnosis Confirmation testing at CFIA

• FAT test (Florescence Antibody Test), by CFIA in Nepean Ontario

Future plans

• Monitoring• Vaccination campaigns• Assessment/research• Adaptation

• 3-5 year process

Urban Bait Distribution

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Rural Bait Distribution Differences

Hamilton 2015‐?• High intensity• Urban• Raccoons and skunks• ONRAB• High surveillance

Brockville 1999‐2005• Low intensity • Rural• Raccoons• TVR and PIC• Low surveillance

Raccoons98%

Skunks2%

1999‐2005

Raccoons69%

Skunks31%

2015‐2016

Hamilton• 1283 animals tested• 173 positives• 85% of all cases

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

December January February March April May June July August Septembe

• 31% of positive animals ‐“Found Dead”

• 10% of positive animals ‐“Roadkill”

• 46% of positive animals ‐“Strange Behaviour or Sick” animals

• 14% of all animals tested are positive

Average 53 people/km2

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Average 339 people/km2

Questions?