In 2024, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) will once again be conducting Oral Rabies Vaccine (ORV) bait distribution and trap-vaccinate-release (TVR) programs in Ontario to control rabies in terrestrial wildlife. Baiting and TVR operations will begin June 17 and continue until the end of October.
Please find attached:
1) Map of planned baiting area for 2024
2) Rabies Vaccine Bait Information Sheet
3) Notification Letter for 2024
Per the attached map, rabies vaccine bait distribution will be conducted in rural areas with MNRF aircraft and by hand in urban areas by MNRF wildlife technicians. These are the details of rabies control activities in 2024 (dates are subject to change depending on weather conditions):
- Grey shaded areas will be completed with a combination of Twin Otter airplane and Eurocopter EC130 helicopter. Twin Otter flights will occur mid-late August, with Eurocopter EC130 flights occurring late August.
- Urban hand baiting, including the use of temporary bait stations, will occur in the orange and brown shaded areas starting June 17 and continue through to the end of October.
- Live trapping and vaccinating of wildlife (trap-vaccinate-release) will occur in St. Catharines in the orange shaded area starting late June and will continue through to the end of October.
- Preventative baiting of the purple shaded area in eastern Ontario will take place mid August by Twin Otter airplane and will take one day to complete and hand baiting in the dark purple shaded area of the city of Cornwall will be completed in early August.
In addition to the activities mentioned above, MNRF may conduct localized rapid response baiting and trap-vaccinate-release measures, which would take place in the event of a raccoon or fox strain rabies case outside of the planned baiting area.
The ministry is committed to the research, surveillance, control and elimination of the outbreak of rabies in southwestern Ontario to prevent the disease from spreading. Since the start of the rabies outbreak in 2015, the first of its kind in over a decade, MNRF has taken quick action to protect communities, distributing over 9 million vaccine baits by air and ground. Rabies cases have decreased by 98% since 2016.
