Feature Article October 24, 2001
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SLHS Graduate Traps Raccoons for the MNR
by David BrisonA dark green MNR pickup truck, loaded with live traps and driven by a young woman, was seen driving the roads around the intersection of the 509 and the Bell Line Road last week. Occasionally she would park the truck and disappear into the bush with the traps.
The young
woman was Suzi Scott, who is originally from Mountain Grove. Suzi
works for the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) in their rabies
research unit, which operates out of Trent University. She graduated
from SLHS in 1997 (she thinks) and was student council president in
her OAC year. She trapped
35 racoons and two skunks during the week that she was in the area.
I was able to get the bare essentials of the story when I ran into Suzi on the first day she was in the area. However, I could not interview her then, because her bosses didnt want her to tell me anything more until they got a chance to fill me in on the larger picture i.e., what they are doing to protect Ontario residents from the virulent strain of racoon rabies that has existed just across the border in New York State for a number of years. The first case in Ontario was spotted in July of 1999 in the Brockville area. The nearest identified case is in Delta.
Suzis bosses, Dr. Chris Davies, director of the wildlife research program for Ontario, and Dr. Rick Rosatte, the chief scientist on the rabies research program, were in Toronto attending a conference on rabies research. The research scientists were gathering to share information which can be used to design a North American rabies containment program. I caught up with them on Friday, the last day Suzi was in the area and, and after speaking with them, was finally able to interview her.
Davies and Rosatte were extremely cooperative and informative. Dr. Rosatte outlined three phases in the rabies program. First they trapped and humanely euthanized all racoons within a 5 km radius from where the rabid racoon was identified. Trappers then moved out a further 5 km and trapped, tagged the ears, vaccinated, and released all racoons. The third phase, which was carried out in the third week of August, 2001, was to drop rabies vaccine from the air in an area that is roughly bounded by Sharbot Lake, Bath, Cornwall, and Ottawa. The bait is an inch square, coated with beef fat. The vaccine is contained in the core of the bait. The outer layer has an antibiotic which is there because it can easily be spotted in tooth samples when racoons are subsequently trapped.
Suzi was in the Sharbot Lake area as part of a research program looking at the percentage of racoons in the area that actually eat the bait and become vaccinated. Rosatte estimates that 60% of the racoons have to take the bait in order for rabies to be contained effectively.
The racoons
Suzi trapped were taken to a field lab after she had tagged their ears
and vaccinated them. At
the lab, they were immobilized, had a tooth removed, and a blood
sample taken. They were
then released. The tooth
is analyzed to see if there are traces of the antibiotic that is
contained in the bait. If
there is, there is a good chance that the racoons also ate the
vaccine. Just in case
they ate the outer layer only, the blood sample will show if they ate
the whole cube and got to the inner layer containing the vaccine.
One of the research goals is to estimate how many racoons were vaccinated. This estimate will be made when trappers return to the area and trap again. They can then see how many racoons are already tagged.
Suzi Scott, a very personable and intelligent 24 year-old (despite the faint odour of one of the skunks she had trapped), is the daughter of Tracey and Marilyn Scott. She grew up in the Long Lake area and attended Land of Lakes School in Mountain Grove. After graduating from high school, she went to Trent in biology for one year, and then enrolled in a 3-year fish and wildlife technician program at Sir Sanford Fleming. She went to Sir Sanford with the idea of becoming an MNR enforcement officer, but while there found that she liked working with animals. She has done contract work with the ministry since graduating and has found it interesting. However, her goal is to be permanently employed by the MNR in their research branch, and she plans to return to Trent this January and eventually complete her degree in biology.
Suzi never
trapped as a child (although her grandfather did) but now is trapping
with her boyfriend near Algonquin Park when she isnt employed on
contract. They are
also building a house in Whitney, near the east gate of Algonquin
Park.
It was fun to be back in my home area for this week. The first house I went to for permission to trap on their land, was the home of Mrs. Allison, my high school math teacher. Then I went to the Conboys (George and Darlene) farm and met Trevor we were both in the SLHS band and orchestra, she said.
Suzi is enthusiastic about her work. There is plenty of opportunity for us to learn about the goals of the research program and how we fit it. They keep us updated, and we keep them informed about what is going on in the field. It works well, she concluded.
