After the government shutdown last fall prevented the U.S. Department of Agriculture from performing its annual rabies vaccine drop, 87,000 baits were dispersed across Buncombe and Henderson Counties over the last three weeks of April.
Henderson County received 7,000 baits while Buncombe received 82,000.
“Rabies is still a problem in the United States,” USDA National Rabies Management Program wildlife biologist Jordona Kirby told the Beacon Tribune. “The primary way to become exposed to the virus is through wild animals. In North Carolina and other surrounding states, it is primarily through raccoons.”
A fatal disease
The rabies virus has multiple variants transmitted by different animals, including bats and skunks. Of the 2 to 300 rabid animals reported in North Carolina annually, Kirby said, most are raccoons…