Quebec's rabies problem is not getting better, according to CBC News. Since January, the province has recorded 126 cases of the disease, compared with a total of 93 for all of last year. The jump has put a spotlight on how the virus is moving through wildlife in the province and on the measures now being taken to try to slow it down.
The Ministry of Environment says the exact cause of the spread is not clear, but it is taking steps to bring the situation under control. Rather than pointing to a single explanation, officials are focusing on containment, trying to limit the ways the disease can travel from one area to another as the case count continues to climb through the year.
One of the central measures is a crackdown on moving animals around. The province is expanding a ban on relocating animals such as raccoons, skunks, foxes and coyotes in certain parts of Quebec. The concern is that transporting these animals, even with good intentions, can carry the virus into new areas and seed fresh outbreaks far from where cases are already known.
That temporary ban has grown to cover a large swath of the province. It now applies to 227 municipalities, along with indigenous territories and unorganized territories, across the Monteregie, Estrie and Centre-du-Quebec regions. The scale of the restricted zone reflects how widely the disease has spread and how seriously authorities are treating the risk of it moving further.
For people living in the affected regions, the change is noticeable. Some residents say they have been seeing more raccoons lately. Officials are urging them to take practical steps to keep wildlife at a distance, including avoiding feeding the animals, blocking access to compost and garbage, and making sure that small gardens are properly secured so they do not attract them.
The advice extends to household animals as well. For people with pets, rabies vaccinations are recommended as a basic precaution while the outbreak continues. The message from authorities is that reducing contact between wild animals and domestic ones is an important part of keeping the disease from spreading further into communities.
At the same time, the province is ramping up its own vaccination efforts against the disease. In June, officials vaccinated more than 2,500 raccoons in Montreal's South Shore, and they are currently distributing vaccine baits across the affected regions. The government says the hope is to once again eliminate the disease in Quebec, returning the province to where it was before the current surge in cases.