Adam Thomlison
Nepean This Week

July 18, 2003

Ontario must stop its "unnecessary slaughter" of raccoons to control rabies, a coalition of animal-welfare groups, including the closed Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre, has said.

"Using an oral rabies vaccine, delivered through aerial drops and ground baiting, is far more effective and less costly than Ontario's blanket killing of raccoons," said Kim Elmslie, emergency relief representative for IFAW. "If the government is serious about cutting costs, then its unnecessary slaughter of healthy animals is a good place to start."

The four groups -- the OCWC, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Animal Alliance of Canada and Animal Protection Institute -- issued a report comparing the province¹s raccoon rabies-control program with that in the eastern U.S. state of Ohio. They call the Ontario program costly, ineffective and inhumane and have called on the province to turn toward Ohio¹s system of vaccination only, rather than its current blend of vaccination and euthanasia.

The first case of raccoon rabies was discovered in Ontario in 1999. Since then it has spread around eastern Ontario to within 10 kilometres of Ottawa¹s boundary. The ministry had been vaccinating raccoons and vector species (skunks and foxes, the only other species that can contract raccoon rabies) for the disease since 1994. But in response to the rabies discovery in 1999 the ministry began euthanizing them as well and since then has killed at least 8,000 animals.

The extreme measures are simply an appropriate response to the threat, said ministry representative Steve Payne.

"We can¹t fail. We can¹t allow raccoon rabies to spread," he said. "This is not the common cold we¹re dealing with here. This is a deadly disease."

However the welfare groups claim the euthanasia policy is actually aiding the spread of the disease, saying there¹s been no drop in rabies cases since the euthanasia program was instituted.

"All you¹re doing is encouraging the movement of animals, which just spreads the disease," said Donna DuBreuil, president of the Nepean-based Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre, which closed earlier this year after having its animals seized by the ministry.

It¹s also a costlier practice compared to Ohio¹s vaccination policy, the report states. Ontario is paying between $400 and $500 per sq. km for its euthanasia program while Ohio¹s program costs just $200, it says. The province¹s own figures show its program costing $2 million per year.

The results themselves also show how much more effective Ohio¹s policy has been. According to the report, Ohio started its vaccination program in 1997 when the state had 60 reported cases of raccoon rabies. By 1998 that number had dropped to 24, then five in 1999 and just one in 2000 and 2001.

By comparison, the report states Ontario started in 1999 with seven cases, instead jumping up in 2000 to 40, then 45 in 2001. There was finally a drop to 19 in 2002, but as of April of this year there had already been 11.

Payne said Ontario¹s program is "comparable to anyone¹s in the world," and that other countries come to the ministry for advice on dealing with raccoon rabies. However he refused to comment on the comparative success of Ohio¹s program.

Aside from all these numbers, though, is the state of the animals themselves.

"This is not only a disease issue," Elmslie said. "This is also a huge animal welfare issue."

According to the report, of the thousands of animals slain under the program, 99.8 per cent did not even have rabies.

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