Cheyenne's Howl

Printed in Mountain Messenger on Friday April 25, 1997

Rabies Vaccines

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Guess what. Tomorrow, April 26, is my first birthday. To celebrate I have asked Dad to give everyone a 10 percent discount on everything in the Gallery this weekend if they mention my article. It's my birthday, but everyone gets a present of a discount. If you want, I could always use a soup bone or two, or three or four. I'm not really being greedy, but if you're a wolf or wolf-dog cross these days, it's cause to celebrate if humans allow you to make it to your first birthday.

Now lets get back to the serious subject of rabies vaccinations that I started last week. You'll remember that Dr. Miller, chief veterinarian for the USDA, went against the recommendations of all of the scientists on his advisory panel and said not to vaccinate wolves, coyotes, wolf-dogs, or any other animal commonly known as a hybrid. His reason was that the vaccine was not yet proven to work in wolves and wolf-dog crosses. I think there is something fishy going on here. Politics and personal gain is what I think is sprouting its ugly head. Think about it for a minute. According to the USDA, the same agency that Dr. Miller works for, rabies vaccines are approved for an entire species and "a wolf-dog cross is to be considered a dog and must be maintained under dog standards..." Dr. Miller is going against his own agency saying that there is not enough proof that the vaccine works in wolves and wolf-dog crosses. Well, did you know that when the rabies vaccine was developed, it was tested on beagles and then approved for all dogs? Come on Dr. Miller, if we used your logic it would be the same thing as saying that the polio vaccine works on Americans but won't work on Europeans or Asians, or any other group of people that you conveniently don't want it to work on. Since when does a vaccine have the discriminatory foolishness to decide what breed of a species it is going to work on when it is injected?

Dr. Miller, you for whatever reason, are trying to deny a breed of animal that apparently you personally don't care for, the right to protection from rabies. In so doing, you are also going against the USDA mandate to protect humans from animal pathogens. This is a crime and boy would I like to take a bite out of this crime. Your recommendation to not vaccinate these animals has put unnecessary fear into the people. In some states, because of this fear, poor legislation has been passed, and the results are that veterinarians are prohibited from vaccinating these animals. If you are in one of these states, you have to lie about what your animal is in order to get it vaccinated. Then if someone decides that they don't like you and want to cause you some grief, they can claim that your animal has wolf in it and you and your vet are in for some legal repercussions.

Remember last week when I said that a canine is a canine is a canine? I repeat again that the USDA states that "a wolf-dog cross is to be considered a dog and must be maintained under dog standards. This means that they must be vaccinated. Dr. Miller, where are you coming from?; who has bought you?; whose bed are you sleeping in?

Cheyenne