But don't get hysterical.

``Community hysteria'' is one reason the state gave for questioning the validity of a proposal by local individuals and organizations hoping to eradicate the virus from the local raccoon population.

The Boothbay region-based group which presented the proposal considers rabies to be of concern for both public-health and economic reasons. The alternative is a method that has proven extremely effective in other states -- and which is particularly well suited to use on peninsulas. It involves scattering fishy-tasting pellets laced with rabies vaccine where raccoons will find and eat them.

While the project has received a less-than-enthusiastic response at the state level, it is not a lost cause. On the contrary, organizers feel that it's a cause whose time will come.

The Proposal

Since December, Boothbay Harbor attorney and former U.S. Representative Stan Tupper, with the help of State Representative Ken Honey and Boothbay Region Humane Society President Loraine Nickerson, have been working to create a pilot program in the Boothbay peninsula for the distribution of the oral rabies vaccine (ORV) pellets to raccoons.

On January 26, Tupper wrote to Maine Epidemiologist Dr. Kathleen Gensheimer, chairman of the Rabies Work Group comprised of individuals directly involved in monitoring and controlling rabies in Maine. He submitted both a proposal and a formal petition signed by the following people on behalf of local institutions: Nickerson for the Humane Society; Dr. Dean Domeyer for Boothbay Animal Hospital; Peggy Pinkham for St. Andrews Hospital; Jaimie Kleinstiver for the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce; Mike Harrison for the Boothbay Region YMCA; and Dawn Kidd for the Boothbay Region Land Trust.

The proposal asked that Edgecomb, Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, and Southport be granted permission to distribute the oral vaccine in the region.

``Leading authorities in this field state that a peninsula such as ours makes an ideal setting,'' Tupper wrote to Gensheimer.

The project as proposed would be supervised by a state agency. Baited ORV would be distributed by volunteers from some of the signing organizations, as well as from the Rotary and Lions Clubs. The $50,000 cost of two applications of the vaccine would be covered by contributions.

``That money could be raised from pet owners alone on this peninsula,'' says Tupper. ``I told the state, `You tell us how to do it, and we'll do it.'''

Why?

On behalf of the above parties, Tupper wrote, ``The resort communities on this peninsula saw a significant increase in rabid raccoons in 1998.... While most recognize that the danger of human infection is small, if a family pet immunized against rabies is attacked by a rabid or suspected rabid animal, quarantine for 45 days poses a true hardship.''

Citing the region's popular nature trails, commercial campgrounds, and the YMCA summer camp, Tupper suggested the spread of rabies ``might have a serious economic impact upon this region.''

He quoted Vermont's chief veterinarian, Dr. Robert Johnson, as stating that the project in 22 towns in that state ``seems to have stopped raccoon rabies dead in its tracks.''

He answered those who believe that government should allow ``nature to take its course'' in the raccoon population by stating, ``...there is nothing unnatural in immunizing wild animals to prevent them from an excruciating death, while preventing the spread of rabies to other species.''

He also believes that attempting ``to kill all raccoons, skunks and other small wild animals under the assumption that all are rabid'' is not a solution but is instead ``inhumane, unworkable and dangerous.''

The Response

Gensheimer's response, on March 30, was to forward questions from the Rabies Work Group, including a request for a more specific proposal with more complete details regarding the implementation of the project, liability issues, timing and project longevity, ``hidden costs,'' and how the project organizers define ``success.''

She asked, ``What if one of the volunteers breaks a leg while applying the bait, who is responsible for the injury sustained?... What are the legal issues of applying the bait on privately held land?''

Gensheimer reportedly said recently that implementing the pellet vaccine program on the Boothbay peninsula would cost millions of dollars over time.

Tupper questions that figure, and thinks perhaps Gensheimer was referring to what a state-wide program might cost.

Questions Answered

Tupper immediately replied to Gensheimer, noting, ``It would appear that the Rabies Work group has set a very high threshold before approval is likely.''

In his April 1 letter he answered the questions posed, as follows:

- Nickerson would coordinate the effort.

- A local veterinarian would be the principal investigator.

- Local animal control officers would assist.

- The firm which makes the vaccine carries product liabilities, and the baited vaccine apparently poses no risk to humans or domestic animals.

- Volunteers will be adults, who would sign a disclaimer in case of injury while distributing the pellets.

- Permission of land owners would be obtained when legally necessary.

- Without an ORV program, the cost of submitting animals for testing would surely rise as more animals become infected.

He said that although most people in Maine do not yet know there is an oral rabies vaccine, ``Sooner or later there will be legislation calling for state-wide programs of this sort.'' He added, ``Some in state government may fear that a successful pilot project would make that day sooner.''

Maybe Later

After months of fruitless attempts to win approval for the plan, on April 6 Tupper wrote to Gensheimer again. This time he said, ``The Boothbay Region group have no desire to pursue the petition for a pilot project further. They believe that [the Department of Inland Fish and Wildlife] is unlikely to change its position, and that there is ambivalence at least on the part of others in the Rabies Work Group.''

Noting that the Boothbay region group was premature in requesting this project without publicizing the efforts, he stated, ``We will seek to stimulate public information on the fact that an oral rabies vaccine is available and that the State of Maine should take advantage of it.''

Half and Half

``We thought we had a 50/50 chance,'' says Tupper. ``The bottom line is there's no money.''

Given the success of ORV distribution programs in other areas, including Cape Cod; Cape May, N.J.; and Vermont, Tupper feels that Maine will eventually adopt the program.

He says that economics plays a major part in the state's response to the proposal. While the Maine Department of Conservation appears to be in favor of the plan, the response of other departments has not been as positive. Tupper says Maine does not have enough disposable income to take on a task of the magnitude of a state-wide pellet project.

He asks, ``Are they afraid we'll be successful? I think they're scared to death that if they approved a pilot project here and it were successful, then towns all over Maine that had the problem would ask for it.''

While the state seems to feel the ORV distribution and monitoring would be too expensive, Tupper wonders how it can afford not to implement the program. He worries about the possibility of ``a large-scale epizootic'' and believes that the incidence of rabies in the region is already discouraging people from using hiking trails. He foresees a time when people who spend time outdoors will have to be warned about the danger of rabies.

``It would be a a terrible thing if we have to post rabies alerts on the peninsula,'' he says, adding that unless something is done, ``It won't be long before we start seeing those pink signs.''

Disappointed but Undaunted

``We're three years behind Vermont already,'' explains Tupper, ``and we'll be five years behind before we get the program.''

He thinks maybe his approach was wrong. ``I was willing to do this as a gentleman in a scholarly way.... We'd have had the same results if we'd come out swinging.''

Now, he says, ``We'll continue to find other alternatives. Our aim is to publicize that there is an ORV, and at an appropriate time we'll go forward again.''

In May, Tupper, Honey, and Nickerson will meet with a US Department of Agriculture representative who will, says Tupper, ``tour the peninsula with us and maybe suggest ways to get federal funding.''

Tupper speaks very highly of both Honey and Nickerson and their contributions to the project. ``Without them,'' he says, ``we wouldn't have even gotten this far.''

He praises Nickerson's work with animals over the years and says, ``If there were a St. Francis of Assisi award, they should give it to this woman. She's done more to protect the animals, domestic and wild, in this area than anyone I know.''