News Releases

Home  |  Programs  |  Divisions  |  Links  |  About Us  |  Contact Us

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) will begin its oral rabies vaccine (ORV) bait distribution program Saturday, September 12, at the Upshur County Airport outside Buckhannon.

USDA officials will conduct a media briefing at 1 p.m. that day, and a second media day at the Bluefield Airport in southern West Virginia, Monday, September 14 at 1 p.m.

The events are an opportunity for media representatives to interview rabies experts, view one of the planes used in the ORV program, and see the fishmeal cube baits and coated sachets that are being distributed throughout the state.

According to USDA-APHIS Public Affairs Specialist Brie Lang, this year’s program will distribute 1.19 million fishmeal polymer baits in portions of Fayette, Greenbrier, McDowell, Mercer, Nicholas, Raleigh and Summers Counties.

Wildlife Services (WS), a section within USDA-APHIS, established the National Rabies Management Program in response to the changing scope of rabies. The program aims both to prevent the further spread of rabies by containing the raccoon variant and, eventually, to eliminate terrestrial rabies in the United States.

Since 2001, WS has been working with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Resources to distribute ORV baits throughout central West Virginia.

For more information, call Brie Lang at 603-724-4905, or visit www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/oral_rabies/index.shtml.

The West Virginia Department of Agriculture protects plant, animal and human health through a variety of scientific, regulatory and consumer protection programs, as mandated by state law. The Commissioner of Agriculture is one of six statewide elected officials in West Virginia. Currently, Commissioner Gus R. Douglass is the longest-serving agriculture commissioner in the nation. For more information, visit www.wvagriculture.org.

“The Basis of All Wealth is Agriculture.”

Home  |  Programs  |  Divisions  |  Links  |  About Us  |  Contact Us

©2001, 2002 West Virginia Department of Agriculture, All Rights Reserved

Contact the Webmaster