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Rabies vaccination program for skunks, raccoons in effort to stop spread to Montreal

Rabies vaccination program for skunks, raccoons in effort to stop spread to Montreal | iNFOnews.ca
Quebec wildlife officials have launched a rabies vaccination campaign as an outbreak continues to spread south of Montreal. A captured raccoon peers through the bars of a trap in Grand Isle, Vt., Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Toby Talbot

MONTREAL — Quebec wildlife officials are trying to prevent the spread of rabies to Montreal with a vaccination campaign for raccoons and skunks.

Since the beginning of the year, Quebec has confirmed 71 cases of raccoon rabies and three cases of bat rabies mostly in the regions south and east of Montreal.

By comparison, 93 cases of raccoon rabies were confirmed throughout all of 2025.

Quebec says 25 teams are currently trapping raccoons and skunks, vaccinating them and releasing them back into the wild.

The operation is aimed at containing the spread of raccoon rabies in the Estrie and Montérégie regions to prevent the disease from reaching the province’s biggest city.

Rabies is a viral disease that is 100 per cent fatal to humans once symptoms appear.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2026.

News from © The Canadian Press, . All rights reserved.
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The Canadian Press

Charlotte Glorieux

The Canadian Press is Canada's trusted news source and leader in providing real-time, bilingual multimedia stories across print, broadcast and digital platforms.

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