Aerial Rabies Vaccination Program Successful
By: Dylan Brooks
Updated: January 24, 2011
FORT STOCKTON -- If you own a pet, rabies is a big concern. With a lot of open land and wild animals here in West Texas, it can also be a problem.
To help defeat this issue, the Texas Department of State Health Services organized a rabies vaccine drop this month. Planes have been flying over West Texas over the past few weeks, dropping the vaccine . The goal is to help protect the animals across West Texas from certain strains of rabies.
Aerial vaccination program director Skip Oertli tells Big 2 that the program was extremely successful this year. He added that the vaccine had been used to fight the fox varient of rabies, which had been found in some coyotes in the region.
Oertli added that the last case of that strain was reported almost two years ago -- on May 23, 2009. He said that the department will target areas closer to the border next year, to keep the disease from spreading northward from Mexico.
The vaccines don't work on the skunk strain of the disease, so pet owners should continue to vaccinate their animals.
To help defeat this issue, the Texas Department of State Health Services organized a rabies vaccine drop this month. Planes have been flying over West Texas over the past few weeks, dropping the vaccine . The goal is to help protect the animals across West Texas from certain strains of rabies.
Aerial vaccination program director Skip Oertli tells Big 2 that the program was extremely successful this year. He added that the vaccine had been used to fight the fox varient of rabies, which had been found in some coyotes in the region.
Oertli added that the last case of that strain was reported almost two years ago -- on May 23, 2009. He said that the department will target areas closer to the border next year, to keep the disease from spreading northward from Mexico.
The vaccines don't work on the skunk strain of the disease, so pet owners should continue to vaccinate their animals.
