By Jon Schuppe
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A team of federal wildlife experts started fanning out across Central Park Tuesday in search of raccoons to vaccinate against an outbreak of rabies.
The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene identified 39 rabid raccoons in the city in the first six weeks of the year. There were only 12 in all of 2009, and none in 2007 and 2008.
Most of those cases have occurred in Central Park.
The experts, from the United States Department of Agriculture, are using food to lure the raccoons into walk-in traps throughout the park, said Sally Slavinski, assistant director of the Health Department’s zoonotic and vector borne disease unit. Each captured animal will be given a vaccination shot and an ear tag, which will be used to track their progress.
After working in Central Park, the experts will move on to Morningside Park and Riverside Park, where a small number of rabid raccoons have been found.
No one knows how the outbreak started. But officials have heard of people illegally releasing raccoons into Central Park. One of those raccoons could have been infected, and because the park offers raccoons an enclosed, predator-free environment, the virus can spread quickly, Slavinski said.
Most people probably won’t notice the traps, which are being placed in spots that aren’t typically accessible by the public, she said. But the traps will be labeled with warnings not to touch them, and a number to call in case of a problem.
The project will be repeated this summer to capture the next generation of young raccoons, Slavinski said.
“We don’t really know how long this will have to go on, but we guess maybe one, two or three more years,” she said.
Rabies is fatal in animals, and in people if they don’t get immediate treatment. Two people and a dog have reportedly been exposed to the disease in Central Park this year.
