Be aware of rabies vaccine when going afield
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With September here, activity in local woods will begin to heat up as the fall hunting seasons open.
Those who take to the woods should be aware that officials in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and West Virginia have undertaken an extensive anti-rabies program, dropping hundreds of thousands of oral rabies vaccines across those areas.
The pink vaccine liquid packet is placed inside a fishmeal block and is attractive to raccoons and other wildlife that could be affected by rabies.
If you come across any of the bait packets, which were dropped specifically on the western portions of Washington and Greene counties, do not handle them.
If you do, immediately wash your hands or any other area of skin exposed to the vaccine with soap and water. If a blister-like rash appears in that area, contact a doctor.
Also, if you have a dog that eats the baits, avoid the animal’s saliva for 24 hours. While ingesting a few of the packets are not harmful to pets, officials say that a pet that eats a large number of them will experience vomiting and/or diarrhea.
If you are directly exposed to the vaccine liquid, wash it off as soon as possible and call 1-877-722-6725 or the state Health District Office 1-877-PA-HEALTH for more information.
• In a positive note on stocking programs, officials in New York this week said they have found two Lake Sturgeon juveniles this summer.
According to the Associated Press, the Department of Environmental Conservation says a 2 ½-pound, 25-inch fish about five years old was found June 12 on the Oswegatchie River. It’s the only young wild sturgeon caught in more than 30 years there.
Officials are guessing that it might be the offspring of adults stocked more than 20 years ago or a remnant of the original population.
A 19-inch, 2-year-old that weighed a pound was caught on July 30 in Oneida Lake, where 8,000 Lake Sturgeon fingerlings were stocked between 1995 and 2004.
Lake Sturgeon average between three and five feet in length and 10 to 80 pounds in weight, but can occasionally grow as large as seven feet and 300 pounds. They were heavily harvested in the 1800s and early portion of the 1900s, mostly for caviar.
Commercial fishing was shut down in 1976 and the sturgeon was put on the state threatened species list in 1983.
Outdoors Editor F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com