The foxes in the country will be vaccinated against rabies in the framework of a program that is supported by Romania and is co-financed by the EU. Employees of the National Food Safety Agency will distribute rabies vaccine baits by air and manually all over the country.
According to the Agency, the baits are thrown on wide territories, not yet in inhabited areas. To avoid such places and also lakes, rivers and national roads, a satellite navigation and distribution system is used. During two weeks of the distribution of baits, the free movement of dogs and cats in the area is restricted as these animals represent competitors for baits. In the regions where baits are distributed, hunting during a 14-day period is not recommended. The vaccine is not intended for domestic animals, but is not harmful if these eat such bait accidentally.
Contacted by IPN for details, Vitalie Carauș, division head at the National Food Safety Agency, said that of the weather is fine, the vaccination campaign will last for four-five days. Ten flying machines are involved daily. They started to distribute baits in the southern region, in Cahul, and move to the north, towards Mărculești. The whole territory of the Republic of Moldova will be covered.
Vitalie Carauș noted the vaccination campaign is efficient as the number of cases of rabies among foxes has declined from 97 cases last year to 27 cases this year. After a particular period of time, they hunt for several foxes to collect samples and transmit these to a lab in Bucharest to see if these contain antibodies.
The goal during the current campaign is to distribute 616,000 rabies vaccine baits by air and over 52,000 baits manually.
Rabies vaccination campaigns in the Republic of Moldova are conducted usually in spring and in autumn.
