Rabies Vaccines are Being Dropped from Airplanes in These West Texas Counties

Efforts in fighting rabies in Texas have gone airborne. The Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has announced that they will be dropping vaccinated bait from airplanes in West Texas for wild foxes and coyotes carrying the rabies virus.

Air Dropping Vaccinations is Nothing New, Surprisingly

The act of dropping vaccines in the form of bait from airplanes has been done many times along the Texas border since the very first instance in 1995, but this time it's expanded into West Texas. DSHS says that the reason why this is spreading so far west is in response to the Arizona Fox rabies variant that has been plaguing New Mexico.

Beginning January 16, rabies vaccine baits will be loaded onto aircrafts at the Del Rio International Airport and flown across 19 separate West Texas counties, dropping roughly 50 baits for every square mile.

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This project cost $2 million and will include a total of 693,600 baits dropped in total during a two-week span.

What Do the Baits Look Like?

In order to make these rabies vaccine baits edible and not harmful to the environment, each vaccine is enclosed in a small plastic packet, then it's dipped in fish oil and fish-meal crumble. This way it is biodegradable and will attract coyotes and foxes who are the most prone to carrying the rabies virus.

DSHS assures all Texans that these baits pose no threats to livestock, other wildlife, or any pets whatsoever.

What Counties Will See Airborne Rabies Baits?

The West Texas counties that will have baits rain down from above starting January 16 include the following, according to DSHS:

• El Paso
• Hudspeth
• Culberson
• Jeff Davis
• Presidio
• Brewster
• Pecos
• Terrell
• Val Verde
• Kinney
• Maverick
• Zavala
• Dimmit
• Webb
• Zapata
• Starr
• Hidalgo
• Cameron
• Willacy

Since the vaccine baits began air-dropping in 1995, confirmed animal cases have nearly all fallen to zero in the affected areas. Also, there have been zero human cases with these variants of the virus as a result of these actions taken over the past 30 years.