The U.S. Department of Agriculture is distributing bait packets containing an oral rabies vaccine across 14 central and north Alabama counites to try to reduce rabies in raccoons and the related public health risks.

The Alabama Department of Public Health announced that the USDA Wildlife Services is using low-flying planes and helicopters to drop coated sachet baits with the RABORAL V-RG® vaccine over a zone of about 14,000 square kilometers.

The area includes parts of Autauga, Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Chilton, Coosa, DeKalb, Etowah, Jackson, Jefferson, Marshall, St. Clair, Shelby, and Talladega counties.

More than 30,000 of the oral rabies vaccine baits are being distributed from ground vehicles in the Birmingham metro area through Thursday.

The bait packets used in the urban and

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