HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1997-01-22, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22,1997
MNR bombs Texas with anti-rabies vaccine
Three Ontario government
aircraft are flying daily bombing
runs over the state of Texas, and
they're being welcomed with open
arms.
For the third consecutive winter,
taxi-cab yellow Twin Otter aircraft
of the Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources are dropping more than
2 million rabies vaccine baits in
south and west-central Texas, in an
effort to eradicate an epidemic of
coyote and grey fox rabies.
The co-operative Texas-Ontario
aerial baiting program was initiated
in 1995, on the heels of the
province's own success in
combating red fox rabies in
southern Ontario. And it's working.
"This is a made-in-Ontario
success story," said Dr. Charles
Maclnnes, MNR's rabies research
co-ordinator. "We designed the bait
dropping machines, and we worked
closely with Ontario universities
and laboratories to develop the
vaccine, suitable baits and the rest
of the technology necessary to get
the baits on the ground and into the
mouths of the animals we wanted
to vaccinate."
Dr. Gayne Fearneyhough,
director of Texas' oral rabies
vaccination project is very pleased
with the decision to seek Ontario's
help. "Because there are a lot of
similarities between the rabies
challenges facing both Ontario and
Texas, we were very interested in
what the Ontario folks were doing
against rabies. Like them, we have
to distribute millions of baits over
thousands of square miles in a short
period of time.
"Originally we were looking at a
six to seven year project. Based on
test results of the last two years,
and a measured acceptance rate of
the vaccine baits by the animals at
better than 75 per cent, we hope to
eliminate canine rabies in coyotes
and grey foxes two to three years
sooner than that."
The technology is one thing. The
delivery is another. And that’s
where the Canadian-built de
Haviland Twin Otter aircraft shine.
"To the best of my knowledge,
there's no other airplane that offers
such reliability and efficiency and
is so suited to this project. They fly
from dawn to dusk, seven days a
week," said Dr. Fearneyhough.
Each standard flight of three to
three and one-half hours duration
covers about 800 kms. distance.
But the efficiencies are also due
to the international team of Ontario
pilots, air engineers, and rabies
staff, and the Texas team from the
departments of health and
agriculture, the animal damage
control service and the National
Guard.
Everybody has a job to do. When
a Twin Otter returns from a flight,
the engines are shut down, it is
refueled, empty bait boxes are
removed, thousands more baits are
loaded aboard, the crew is changed,
drop patterns are downloaded into
the aircraft’s Global Positioning
System (GPS) computer, and the
engines are restarted. Another Twin
Otter is airborne in less than 15
minutes.
The on-board computer
navigation systems, designed by
computer specialists at Queen's
University, plots the exact flight
lines each aircraft will fly.
At the controls of one of those
aircraft is senior MNR pilot Neil
Ayers from Sudbury. "It's a
beautiful navigation system. It
eliminates a lot of work for the
pilots. The computer-designed
flight patterns minimize the amount
of time and distance between
flights and reduces fuel
consumption. It is very efficient.
"There's no doubt that MNR can
lay claim to a world record," says
Ayers. "We've been dropping
rabies bails out of these aircraft
annually since 1989, when the
project was started to eliminate red
fox rabies back home. By my
estimation, almost 11.5 million
vaccine baits have been distributed
in Ontario, Texas, New York and
Quebec. And we're in the process
of delivering 2.6 million more."
"Last year and this year represent
the largest, aerial, rabies vaccine
baiting operations anywhere in the
world," said Ayers. "I guess
Good news for
Bell Canada
customers in
Blyth.
By September 30th, 1997, all Bell customers in the community of Blyth whose telephone number
begins with 523 will be upgraded to a fully-modem digital network. This not only means that you'll
enjoy a greater level of reliability in your phone service, it also means that you'll have the opportunity
to take full advantage of improved modem and fax services and electronic banking. In addition, you'll
have faster, more reliable access to data services and the Internet, as well as SmartTouch™ services such
as Call Display, and Call Return.
In addition, your local, toll-free calling area will be extended to include Goderich by March 31,
1997, and long distance charges will no longer apply.
These changes are just some of the ways in which we're improving your local service.
In the coming months, we'll be looking at other ways to extend and improve the service we provide.
Please call us at 1 888 845-3639 if you have any questions or comments.
everything really is bigger in
Texas."
The Texas project was initiated
in 1995 when two MNR aircraft
were used to drop 830,000 bails
over 39,000 square kms. in less
than two weeks. A state health
emergency had been declared in the
Lone Star state in 1994, after more
than 2,000 people were treated for
exposure to rabies and two had died
since the outbreak had been
detected in 1988.
The canine strain of rabies
carried by coyotes had moved into
the state from Mexico. It was
moving northward at a rate of 70
kms. a year and was threatening to
move into the suburbs of a major
city, San Antonio. In the meantime,
rabies was also detected in grey
foxes in west-central Texas. For the
second year in a row, they are also
being targeted with bait vaccines.
The 1995 test project also
provided the opportunity to train
Texas personnel to operate the bait
dropping equipment. Sitting in the
cockpit with the pilot, a Texan is
responsible to turn the bait
dropping machine off if the aircraft
is going to fly over no-drop areas,
such as a town or built up area, a
river or a herd of cattle. Staff from
both teams work side by side
during the flights to load the baits
onto the conveyor belt and to
monitor the equipment to ensure
there are no snags or breakdowns.
The strategy of creating an east
west barrier across the lower
portion of the state, between the
Gulf of Mexico and the Rio Grande
is working. The northward spread
of the disease appears to be halted.
"Without the drops, we predicted
about 43 new cases per 10,000
square miles per year," said Dr.
Fearneyhough. "The actual rate last
year was six, and that's very
encouraging."
Baits are dropped in the winter in
Texas. There's less natural food for
the coyotes and foxes, which means
they hunt further afield and are
more apt to accept the edible baits.
Continued on page 7