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The Muncie Delaware Humane Society (Indiana) has submitted a proposal to the County Council and Commissioners which would include imposing a tax on dogs as well as changing the county's current 3 year rabies immunization protocol to one requiring a yearly rabies booster for all dogs and cats in order to obtain a license.

I've spoken at length with 3 council members, and if I am understanding them correctly, the proposed ordinance came from the Humane Society, in conjunction with local veterinarians. The ordinance will, in effect, set the Humane Society up as an independent animal control agency for Delaware County -- allowing them to unilaterally determine rabies booster intervals, licensing requirements, setting fines, imposing taxes on pets, implementing mandatory spay/neuter policy, etc... Apparently the society intends to collect up to $1,000 in fines for some violations. All of the fees will go into the Humane Society coffers to fund the running of their shelters, and the veterinarians performing the vaccinations and spaying/neutering will be paid for their services. One controversial portion of the proposal would apparently allow the Humane Society to enter private property without a search warrant.

Below is a copy of my letter to the county officials on behalf of The Rabies Challenge Fund opposing the proposed revision to the rabies protocol.

What You Can Do

Contact the Delaware County Council and Commissioners (contact information below) and ask them to reject the portion of the Humane Society's proposal which would change the current 3 year rabies ordinance.

County Commissioners Telephone Number: (765) 747-7730 Fax: (765) 747-7899
Don Dunnuck
Todd Donati
Larry W. Bledsoe, Jr.

County Council Fax: (765) 741-3422

Kevin Nemyer (765) 286-0962
Bradley Bookout (765) 808-1484
James King (765) 286-9065
Mary Chambers (765) 289-8928
Ted Bowman (765) 789-4931
Ronald Quakenbush (765) 759-8461
Chris Matchett, President (765) 759-4725; cell: 765-730-5987

June 24, 2009

Delaware County Council and Commissioners
100 West Main Street
Muncie, IN 47305

Humane Society Proposed Ordinance Change Affecting Rabies
Immunization Protocol for Dogs

Greetings Council Members and Commissioners

This letter is a follow-up to my Tuesday conversations with Councilors Bowman and Chambers regarding an ordinance proposed by the Muncie Delaware Humane Society which would impose a tax on dogs in addition to revising the county’s 3 year rabies immunization ordinance to require annual rabies boosters for dogs and cats in order to obtain licenses.

Delaware County’s current Animal Care & Control Ordinance, Chapter 12, Section 3-12-1, which declares, "Rabies vaccination shall mean the injection by a licensed veterinarian of a dog/cat with a rabies vaccine licensed by the USDA and approved by the Indiana State Department of Health..." conforms to the Indiana state rabies protocol (Rule 5 Rabies Immunization, 345 IAC 1-5-1 Rabies Vaccination) as well as the recommendations of the American Veterinary Medical Association [1] and the Center for Disease Control’s National Association of State Public Health Veterinarian's 2008 Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control advising that: "Vaccines used in state and local rabies control programs should have at least a 3-year duration of immunity........ No laboratory or epidemiologic data exist to support the annual or biennial administration of 3- or 4-year vaccines following the initial series."

A regressive ordinance revision requiring annual rabies boosters for dogs and cats is medically unnecessary and scientifically unfounded. According to the American Animal Hospital Association, "The minimum DOI [duration of immunity] for killed rabies vaccine based on challenge studies is 3 years; based on antibody titers, it is considered to be up to 7 years..” [2]

More frequent vaccination than is required to fully immunize an animal will not achieve further disease protection. Redundant annual rabies shots needlessly expose dogs and cats to the risk of adverse effects while obligating residents to pay unnecessary veterinary medical fees, which could violate Indiana’s consumer protection laws and obligate veterinarians to engage in unprofessional conduct (Code 25-1) by administering medically unwarranted rabies vaccines in order for their clients to comply with the amended ordinance. The American Veterinary Medical Association's 2001 Principles of Vaccination state that “Unnecessary stimulation of the immune system does not result in enhanced disease resistance, and may increase the risk of adverse post-vaccination events.”

It is recognized that most, if not all, currently licensed annual rabies vaccines given annually are actually the 3-year vaccine relabeled for annual use -- Colorado State University's Small Animal Vaccination Protocol for its veterinary teaching hospital states: “Even with rabies vaccines, the label may be misleading in that a three year duration of immunity product may also be labeled and sold as a one year duration of immunity product.” According to Dr. Ronald Schultz of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, whose canine vaccine studies form a large part of the scientific base for the 2003 and 2006 American Animal Hospital Association’s (AAHA) Canine Vaccine Guidelines, as well as the World Small Animal Veterinary Association’s 2007 Vaccine Guidelines, “There is no benefit from annual rabies vaccination and most one year rabies products are similar or identical to the 3-year products with regard to duration of immunity and effectiveness.” [3]

Immunologically, the rabies vaccine is the most potent of the veterinary vaccines and associated with significant adverse reactions such as polyneuropathy “resulting in muscular atrophy, inhibition or interruption of neuronal control of tissue and organ function, incoordination, and weakness,” [4] auto-immune hemolytic anemia, [5] autoimmune diseases affecting the thyroid, joints, blood, eyes, skin, kidney, liver, bowel and central nervous system; anaphylactic shock; aggression; seizures; epilepsy; and fibrosarcomas at injection sites are all linked to the rabies vaccine. [6] [7] It is medically unsound for this vaccine to be given more often than is necessary to maintain immunity.

A “killed” vaccine, the rabies vaccine contains adjuvants to enhance the immunological response. In 1999, the World Health Organization “classified veterinary vaccine adjuvants as Class III/IV carcinogens with Class IV being the highest risk," [8] and the results of a study published in the August 2003 Journal of Veterinary Medicine documenting fibrosarcomas at the presumed injection sites of rabies vaccines stated, “In both dogs and cats, the development of necrotizing panniculitis at sites of rabies vaccine administration was first observed by Hendrick & Dunagan (1992).” [9] According to the 2003 AAHA Guidelines, "...killed vaccines are much more likely to cause hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., immune-mediated disease)." [10]

The Rabies Challenge Fund urges you to reject the portion of the Muncie Delaware Humane Society proposal which would amend Chapter 12 Section 3-12-1 of the Animal Care and Control Ordinance to require annual rabies vaccinations for dogs and cats.

Sincerely,
Kris L. Christine
Founder, Co-Trustee
THE RABIES CHALLENGE FUND
www.RabiesChallengeFund.org

cc: Dr. W. Jean Dodds
Dr. Ronald Schultz

CONTINUED

__________________
Kris L. Christine
Founder, Co-Trustee
THE RABIES CHALLENGE FUND
www.RabiesChallengeFund.org

[1] American Veterinary Medical Association, 2007 RABIES VACCINATION PROCEDURES



[2] American Animal Hospital Association Canine Vaccine Task Force. 2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Recommendations, and Supporting Literature, p.13



[3] Schultz, Ronald D.; What Everyone Needs to Know about Canine Vaccines, October 2007, http://www.puliclub.org/CHF/AKC2007C...20Vaccines.htm



[4]Dodds, W. Jean Vaccination Protocols for Dogs Predisposed to Vaccine Reactions, The Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, May/June 2001, Vol. 37, pp. 211-214



[5] Duval D., Giger U.Vaccine-Associated Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia in the Dog, Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 1996; 10:290-295



[6] American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Executive Board, April 2001, Principles of Vaccination, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 219, No. 5, September 1, 2001.



[7] Vascelleri, M. Fibrosarcomas at Presumed Sites of Injection in Dogs: Characteristics and Comparison with Non-vaccination Site Fibrosarcomas and Feline Post-vaccinal Fibrosarcomas; Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Series A August 2003, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 286-291.



[8] IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans: Volume 74, World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Feb. 23-Mar. 2, 1999, p. 24, 305, 310.



[9] Vascelleri, M. Fibrosarcomas at Presumed Sites of Injection in Dogs: Characteristics and Comparison with Non-vaccination Site Fibrosarcomas and Feline Post-vaccinal Fibrosarcomas; Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Series A August 2003, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 286-291.



[10] American Animal Hospital Association Canine Vaccine Task Force. 2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Recommendations, and Supporting Literature, 28pp. and ibid. 2006 AAHA Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Revised, 28 pp.

__________________
Kris L. Christine
Founder, Co-Trustee
THE RABIES CHALLENGE FUND
www.RabiesChallengeFund.org

What the hell?

And what it the HS's justification for
rejecting the existing 3 year rabies interval?

Jeeez, what a nightmare. Having one system
with al the power will lead to overvaxing and
rounding up Pits for euth'ing in short order.

Kris L. Christine wrote:
PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST

The Muncie Delaware Humane Society (Indiana) has submitted a
proposal to the County Council and Commissioners which would include
imposing a tax on dogs as well as changing the county's current 3 year
rabies immunization protocol to one requiring a yearly rabies booster
for all dogs and cats in order to obtain a license.

Yes, it is a concern. Hopefully enough pet owners will contact county officials before they vote on the proposal in July.

__________________
Kris L. Christine
Founder, Co-Trustee
THE RABIES CHALLENGE FUND
www.RabiesChallengeFund.org