This story was originally produced by the Valley News. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Small planes have been flying over rural areas of northern Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, dropping flavored baits containing oral vaccines in the hopes of limiting the spread of rabies among raccoons in the region.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s National Rabies Management Program, which was established in 1995, is distributing 1.1 million baits across the three states over about a week-long period, according to Rabies Field Coordinator Betsy Haley.
The number of rabid animals reported in Vermont has risen in recent years, according to the state’s Department of Health. In both 2024 and 2025, 66 cases of rabies in wildlife were reported across the state. This year, 37 rabies cases have been reported, including 15 raccoons, nine skunks, eight bats and three foxes. Two of the cases of rabid bats were reported in Upper Valley towns, with one each in Strafford and Royalton.
In New Hampshire, 28 cases of rabies were reported in 2025 according to the state’s Division of Public Health Services. Rabid animals were reported in three Upper Valley towns, including a raccoon in Charlestown, a bat in Lyme and a fox in Enfield.
Raccoons are the most common carriers for rabies in the Eastern United States, Haley said. They are habituated to humans, which increases the likelihood that people could come into contact with a rabid animal.
“We’re trying to provide a barrier between the wildlife and humans as a protection against rabies,” Haley said.
Though the program targets raccoons, other wildlife like coyotes, skunks and opossums will eat the baits. Haley said there is no reason to worry if your dog finds and eats one of the baits.
“It may have a little bit of an upset stomach, but the vaccine and baits have been found safe for several species of animals,” she said.
If people find a bait in their yard, they should pick it up with a paper towel and move it to the woods or to an area where they know raccoons tend to congregate, Haley said. Though handling the baits is safe, the flavored coatings can be sticky or linger on the skin even after washing your hands.
In order to determine whether the program was effective, USDA employees will trap raccoons in the target areas a few weeks after the baits are distributed, and draw blood samples to check for markers that suggest they came into contact with the vaccine. The raccoons are then released back into the wild.
“The end goal of our program is to eventually eliminate raccoon rabies from the United States,” Haley said.
