Dogs culled after rabid fox attack
Pangnirtung on alert after 20 dogs, fox killed to prevent spread of disease
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Monday, May 18, 2015
PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG
Pangnirtung residents are on alert as concerns of rabies in the community spread after a dog was acting strangely a week after a rabid fox bit five dogs in the hamlet.
Complaints about the fox biting dogs led a hamlet bylaw officer and conservation officer to search for hours before finding the fox at about 1:30 a.m. on May 5.
"Our bylaw officer found and destroyed the fox, and it appeared to have the characteristics of rabies," said senior administrative officer Shawn Trepanier. "It was very aggressive behaviour, it was foaming at the mouth, and had uncoordinated movement. We normally don't get foxes in town. It had bitten a minimum of five dogs, and so to be on the safe side, we spoke with the residents that had them and we destroyed those five dogs."
On May 8, the Department of Health issued a release stating that the fox had tested positive. In a separate release, the department stated that a dog in Pond Inlet also tested positive for rabies.
Two days later, a dog was seen acting strangely in Pangnirtung and was destroyed.
The hamlet is directing residents to be vigilant about watching for aggressive behaviour in animals and to report any such behaviour to the bylaw officer. Trepanier said prevention is the key. The hamlet hosted vaccination clinics May 6 and 7 and is making doses available to anyone wanting to vaccinate their dogs.
A total of 20 dogs were reportedly destroyed. However, a May 15 news release from the GN's Department of Health stated that a dog that may have had contact with people and dogs in the community earlier this week tested negative for rabies.
"Any other dogs that are suspect, we are asking people to quarantine them," he said, "as well as be on the lookout for unprovoked behaviour, aggressiveness and uncoordinated movement."
So far, no people have been attacked.
"We have told people if they are bitten or scratched by a dog or wolf or lemmings to automatically go to the health centre so they can start the prophylaxis treatment," he said.
The hamlet holds annual vaccination clinics, but it has been about a year since the last one, and only about 50 per cent of all dogs in the hamlet are vaccinated. Until now, the hamlet did not require registration or rabies vaccination, but that will change this spring.
"It is a major concern," Trepanier said. "We do have quite a few dogs within the community, and a lot that belong to residents and that are loose as well. So we do try to contain the loose ones we have. If we notice a dog, we'll bring them back to the owners, if they're not (owned), we end up destroying them because what happens is they become malnourished or have puppies, just to keep the dog population controlled."
Registration will enable the hamlet to get a sense of how many dogs are in town. There will not be a fee for tags.
Territorial environmental health specialist Wanda Joy said the fox carcass was sent to Nepean, Ont., for testing to confirm that it indeed had rabies. Joy said the incubation period for animals that come in contact with a rabid animal can be up to six months, so more animals may present with symptoms in that time.
"Rabies is endemic in the fox population in Nunavut, and that's why it's very important to get your animals vaccinated against rabies," Joy said.
There has never been a human case of rabies in Nunavut, Joy said.
