DEVELOPMENT OF BAITS TO DELIVER ORAL RABIES VACCINE TO RACCOONS IN ONTARIO

During 1993, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Rabies Researc h Unit, conducted experiments to develop a bait that would be attracti ve to raccoons (Procyon lotor) and serve as a vehicle to deliver oral rabies vaccine to that species. Testing of six candidate baits on capt ive and wild raccoons revealed that the best baits in terms of attract iveness to raccoons were a sugar-vanilla bait and a cheese powder bait . Further testing of those two baits containing miniature radio-transm itters indicated there was no preference between the baits, with respe ct to acceptance by raccoons; however, as there were fewer problems in mass producing the sugar-vanilla bait, it was selected. for larger sc ale experiments.