The Rural Voice, 1979-06, Page 35More accurate forecasts coming
Exeter -London radar Zink in operation again
The radar link between the federal weather office in London
and Exeter is expected to be operational again shortly. That link
provided accuracy in forecasting and plotting severe storms.
The radar, located in a bunker on Highway ,83 just east of
Exeter was installed last July with land lines running to London
and Toronto Weather offices but the London line was
discontinued last November because of its cost. George
McPherson, regional director for Atmospheric Environment
Services in Toronto said the system, leased from CN -CP
Telecommunications Ltd., cost about $10,000 annually.
The direct line to Toronto was maintained and the radar
information passed on to London in numerical code by teletype.
McPherson said the coding takes about 20 to 30 minutes, a
significant time considering storm watches are initiated six hours
in advance and storm warnings are issued only an hour before
they reach a community.
The quality of the information also suffered, he said. "You
can't relay that precise information in a coded teletype
message."
He said his offices had been ableto reinstate the line to London
because a Connecticut firm, Alden Corp. Ltd., has offered to
lease the same service for about $1,500.
Hamburger for foxes??
Rabies test program on again in Huron, Perth
•
Since 1972, the Ministry of Natural Resources has had a rabies
test program set up in the Huron, Perth and Bruce County areas
and for the past three years have had program in which animals
are tempted with a meat bait implanted with a placebo rabies
vaccine.
The Ministry has also been working on a program in which
they hope to be able to bait wild animals with meat that has been
implanted with a real rabies vaccine. But according to Ian Watt,
Resource Technician with the Wildlife Research Branch in the
MNR offices in Maple, it could be at least another three years
before that vaccine is perfected.
Meanwhile, the Ministry is trying to see if animals will eat bait
which has been implanted with tetracycline, a marking agent
which leaves a yellow line in the teeth which shows up under
ultra -violet light. Teeth have growth rings like trees and a cross
section shows when the bait was eaten.
The Ministry of Natural Resources is able to keep track of the
animals by having local trappers record their captures and turn
in the carcasses of the animals caught. Ian Watt picks up
carcasses from trappers and does an autoposy to find out
whether the animals ate from the bait. If a trapper has taken a
blood sample from a recently killed animal, Mr. Watt can tell if
natural antibodies for rabies are up or down.
The Oral Rabies Vaccine development program or Ora-Vax as
it is called, is trying to get the vaccine down to a small pill size
and then the dosage must be tested on all known species of
animals in Ontario.
Mr. Watt said that 74 per cent of the foxes out of a 200 mile
square mile test area ale the placebo bait which is a very high
percentage and one that is recognized by the World Health
Organization The actual vaccine probably won't be ready
till 1981 or 1982.
But the Ministry will be going ahead this fall in the Wingham
area, probably testing different types of bait.
"The real reason for our success is because of local trappers
and hunters like Charlie Stevenson from Ethel who has
co-operated 100 per cent by turning in foxes caught in his trap
lines," Mr. Watt said, mentioning one of the local trappers who
help out.
He said that last fall there was quite an outbreak of rabies
around the Listowel, Ethel and Logan Township areas.
"It's essential that the fox population be controlled," he said.
It causes a lot of problems for land owners and domestic
animals and that sort of thing."
He said the public in Ontario spends $4.6 million on such
things as livestock compensation because of rabies and animal
rabies clinics.
"We hope to be able to control rabies by blanketing the whole
of Southern Ontario (with the vaccine) and breaking the cycle of
the virus," he said.
He said they're mainly testing in the Huron and Perth
County areas for this program.
"Once province -wide baiting occurs we will probably try the
real baiting with Huron and Perth since we nave a good rapport
with the trappers there," Mr. Watt said.
"We will be back in Huron and Perth County again this fall
dropping bait out of aircraft but the bait is completely
harmless," Mr. Watt said.
Objections rejected,
Perth elevator will go ahead
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) has upheld an
application to rezone 12.5 acres in South Easthope Township east
of Stratford for the construction of a grain elevator, dismissing
appeals by four people who live near the site.
In a written decision stating that, "It is unfortunate that a few
residents of the area, who knowingly have chosen to build homes
in an agricultural area, should be inconvenienced. We believe,
however tnat in this instance the public interest and need
dictates that the complex be approved and supercedes the
interests of the residents,' the OMB rejected the appeals of Ron
and Christine Valid, Gunter Weinheimer and Don Hasson.
elevator would be unsightly, create odor and noise and attract
rodents and birds.
The board said a rural location for the elevator is preferable to
an urban one. "One expects a farm related operation in the
midst of a farming area."
THE RURAL VOICE/JUNE 1919 PG. 33
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