Hand-baiting and helicopter distribution are commonly used to distribute vaccine-laden baits to help control raccoon (Procyon lotor) rabies in suburban landscapes. These techniques can be labor intensive and costly. We designed and tested a polyvinyl chloride bait station as an alternative method to dispense the baits to raccoons. Our goal was to build an inexpensive, portable, and weather-resistant bait station that minimized nontarget species visitation. We tested the bait station over a 2-year period. We used infrared-triggered cameras (IRCs) to quantify animal visitation to bait stations. During the study IRCs provided 522 photographs of animals present at bait stations; 90.3% of all animals photographed were raccoons. In 2003 and 2004, approximately 4,651 (93 baits/km2) and 2,960 (59 baits/km2) baits were removed from the bait stations, respectively. We believe the bait stations could potentially replace or supplement hand-baiting and helicopter distribution as a cost-effective method for dispensing rabies vaccine to raccoons in suburban landscapes.
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1 November 2006
A Polyvinyl Chloride Bait Station for Dispensing Rabies Vaccine to Raccoons in Suburban Landscapes
JASON R. BOULANGER,
LAURA L. BIGLER,
PAUL D. CURTIS,
DONALD H. LEIN,
ARTHUR J. LEMBO Jr.
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bait station
New York
oral rabies vaccination
Procyon lotor
PVC
rabies
raccoon