Raccoon rabies on the rise in Tennessee

The number of rabid raccoons in Southeast Tennessee continues to increase, and wildlife officials again will take to the skies to fight the virus later this month.

“We suspect it’s moving in from across state lines,” said Jordona Kirby, a rabies biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services. “Animals — they don’t abide by state boundaries.”

Rabid raccoons may be coming into Tennessee from Georgia, North Carolina and other surrounding states, she said.

This year there have been three rabid raccoons found in Polk County and one in Hamilton County, according to Tennessee Department of Health statistics. Statewide, 23 rabid raccoons have been found through the end of August, compared to 14 in the same time frame in 2007 and 1 in 2006, according to the department.

“It’s an increase in the sense that, before 2008, we had not seen rabies in raccoons in Polk County or Cherokee County (N.C.),” Ms. Kirby said.

On Sept. 26, as they have since 2003, crews from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin dropping rabies vaccine from airplanes in a 30-mile zone in parts of seven Southeast Tennessee counties. The vaccine comes in pouches about the size of ketchup packets and, if eaten, inoculates raccoons against the rabies virus, hopefully stopping the spread of the disease, Ms. Kirby said.

Tennessee Agriculture Department workers also will place the vaccines by hand in strategic spots, mostly in urban areas where airdrops would not be as effective, she said.

The increasing number of raccoons is part of a large-scale shift in the number of species affected by rabies, according to Dr. Rand Carpenter, Tennessee’s assistant public health veterinarian.

“Especially in the last 20 years, rabies has shifted from a disease of domestic animals to a disease of wild animals,” he said.

Skunks still are the most-common carriers of rabies in Tennessee, but raccoons have overtaken bats to become No. 2 on the list in 2007 and 2008, based on department statistics.

Raccoons, however, pose more of a threat to humans and pets, according to Dr. Kevin Keel, a wildlife pathologist with the University of Georgia. Skunks and bats tend to avoid humans, he said, while raccoons are more likely to be drawn to urban areas where they can scavenge easy meals from trash and bird feeders. The disease is spread primarily through bites, Dr. Keel said.

“You have a situation where you are more likely to have interaction with domestic animals,” he said. “It’s one of the few diseases that I really get anxious about.”

Because of the possible contact between raccoons and pets, Dr. Charles Conley of the Red Bank Animal Hospital said it is important to make sure dogs, cats, ferrets and other animals are up to date on their shots.

“If a rabid raccoon comes to your yard, and you’re like me, you’re at work and your dog’s in the backyard,” Dr. Conley said. “He’s more likely to get bitten.”

In Georgia, rabid raccoons are much more common, with 154 cases in 2006, according to Dr. Keel. There were only three reports in Tennessee that year, records show.