RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help stop the spread of rabies among wild raccoons.
Beginning October 16, Wildlife Services will begin aerially distributing oral rabies vaccine baits across 17 western counties, including Buncombe, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Watauga, and Swain. In Asheville, hand-distribution will begin October 14 and continue through October 16.
The annual oral rabies vaccination program has been in place since the 1990s. Its goal is to prevent the raccoon rabies strain from spreading west of the Appalachian Mountains, where it does not currently exist…