BURLINGTON — Vermont is in the midst of a rabies resurgence — and the virus has crossed the border into Quebec, with infected animals found in the province for the first time in almost 10 years.
The state has faced an increase in cases since 2022. The last time Vermont saw a rise in rabies-positive raccoons, the primary species carrying the virus, was between 2015 and 2016.
The tally plateaued for a year, then dropped five years straight — reaching just three raccoons in 2021 — before a jump to 18 in 2022, 17 in 2023 and 37 in 2024.
Rabies in general is always a concern in Vermont — we are endemic for it.Vermont public health veterinarian Natalie Kwit
Last year’s figure was the highest since Jim Douglas’ final run for governor, and for the first six months of this year, officials had recorded 18 rabid raccoons as of July 21. That’s on top of an otter, three foxes, three skunks, four bats and a woodchuck who likely carry the raccoon variant.
“Rabies in general is always a concern in Vermont — we are endemic for it,” state public health veterinarian Natalie Kwit said.
In December 2024, Quebec had its first recorded case of raccoon rabies since 2015. Officials and scientists on both sides of the border have been collaborating as they look to control the virus.
“We have the same goal to eradicate rabies, and we all work together,” said biologist Marianne Gagnier, who coordinates rabies control for Quebec’s parks, forests and wildlife ministry.
After 2020, Quebec officials decided to suspend vaccination efforts; there hadn’t been a case in the province in five years, and those in Vermont were far from the border, Gagnier said.
Then came the surge in cases in 2022, mostly in Burlington, about 60 kilometers, or 37 miles, from the border with Canada.
The cases crept closer and closer to the border, according to provincial officials, and in 2024 Quebec brought back the vaccine campaign.
Despite efforts to quell the spread, in December that year Quebec saw that first case: a dead raccoon found in St.-Armand, about a mile across the border from where, earlier that month, a case had been discovered in Highgate.
Since then, Gagnier said, “the rabies has spread 25 kilometers into Quebec and moved from the border.”
The raccoon variant is the dominant strain present in Vermont and Quebec. Cats, dogs, skunks and foxes can all contract the virus, which is spread through contact with rabid hosts, usually bites. Once symptoms show, it is virtually 100% fatal in mammals.
The variant has been in the southeast U.S. since the 1950s. The virus crawled up the coast over the decades, first confirmed in raccoons in Vermont in 1994. In the late ’90s, the federal government approved and began distributing a vaccine that raccoons can eat. It became the primary strategy to prevent the virus.
“When the program began, it was and still is our goal to try and stop the spread of raccoon rabies and then eventually eliminate it,” said U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife biologist Kathy Nelson, who coordinates the National Rabies Management Program.
Sometimes the food-scented vaccine packets are dropped from planes or helicopters. Other times, they’re thrown from vehicles — or even scattered around by workers on foot.
“It’s a well-kept secret, even though it’s not a secret at all,” Nelson said. “We've been doing it in Vermont since 1997, and it's amazing how many people don't know about it.”
Last year, the USDA started distributing vaccines in Vermont twice a year, which had never been done before, Nelson said.
“That’s what we're doing now to try to tamp it back down,” she said.
Both Vermont and Quebec dropped vaccines in May.
Urban areas are most at risk for outbreaks due to abundant food sources attracting a dense population of critters, said Kwit. The number of hubs for animals to interact with each other or with humans adds to the risk.
In cities — even those as small as Vermont’s — raccoons often congregate in small spaces such as trash cans or alleys, where a bite or a scratch from a rabid raccoon could infect the whole group.
Last year, Chittenden, Caledonia and Franklin counties had the most cases. State data this year shows a new trend: There are positives in Orleans County, on the east end of the Canada border, for the first time since 2017. Five raccoons have been positive there so far this year.
In Quebec, rabid animals this year have been recorded in barns, fields and orchards but not yet in cities like Montreal, Gagnier said.
Spreading to urban centers, said Gagnier, “rabies outbreaks could explode.”
Vaccines are usually dropped in the spring, when food is scarce, and in the late summer and fall, when raccoon cubs born in the spring are old enough to consume the packets.
It takes between four and six weeks for the immunization to set in, according to Gagnier.
The main struggle with containing rabies in urban areas, said Kwit, is making sure the raccoons are actually taking their medicine.
Greater choice of food, in places where more people live, makes them less likely to choose the vaccine, she said.
Nelson and Gagnier called the rabies-control efforts in Vermont and Canada an example of cross-border cooperation.
If you come in contact with a potentially rabid animal, rPEP (rabies postexposure prophylaxis) can be administered as a treatment.
But “administering rPEP is three to four times more expensive to the (Canadian) government than oral vaccines,” Gagnier said. So avoiding the animals entirely is the best choice.
Vermont game warden Jake Johnson advises people to vaccinate pets and household members and avoid handling any wild animals.
If you are in contact with a potentially infected animal, try to keep it in place if you can do so safely. Then call your local game warden or 1-800-4-RABIES. Experts advise against transporting nuisance animals from your property because you could inadvertently spread the virus.
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