City will vaccinate raccoons against rabies in some Manhattan parks: Gothamist



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New York City has a long and tense relationship with raccoons, especially those who lather in their mouths. Instead of euthanizing hundreds of residents of garbage cans and subjecting them to a rabies virus screening test, as would have been the case of the city from 2014 to 2016, the powers in place are opting now for vaccination and the release of raccoons in several parks in northern Manhattan.

This decision comes after the discovery of four rabid pandas around Inwood Hill Park this year, the first time rabid raccoons have been seen in the city since 2011, as announced by officials earlier this year. Nevertheless, vaccination is essentially a "preventive measure to ensure the safety of our residents," said Dr. Oxiris Barbot, health commissioner, in a press release from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene of New York City.

Beginning today and over the next two weeks, authorities will "humanly" jail raccoons in remote areas of several Manhattan parks, including Isham Park, Fort Washington, Fort Tryon, Riverbank and the northern part of New York. Central Park. They will then vaccinate and label the raccoons, then release them so that they can again search the trash cans.

Wait, what about raccoons who have settled in areas where traps are impossible? The DOH also comes for them, distributing an oral rabies vaccine (ORV) in these cases. As the agency notes, it is quite rare that an encounter with a rabid raccoon occurs (two other rabid raccoons have been reported so far this year, one in the Bronx and the other at Staten Island, as noted NY1), but this is likely a problem. good idea to avoid them. And do not even think about trying to instantiate your meeting.

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