The announcement came as TDH prepares to launch this year's airdrop at daybreak tomorrow. Cotulla is about 80 miles south of San Antonio. Small fish meal baits containing packets of the vaccine are dropped from the planes flying at 500 feet.
Coyotes eat the baits and become immune to rabies.
TDH began the vaccine airdrops six years ago to contain an outbreak of canine rabies that began in Starr County in 1988 and eventually spread to 21 South Texas counties, threatening to invade San Antonio and other heavily populated areas. The number of animal cases of canine-strain rabies has dropped from a high of 142 in 1995 to 10 in 1999 to zero through November 2000. The last animal canine rabies case occurred in September 1999 in Starr County. No human cases of canine rabies have been recorded since 1994, and no animal cases have been recorded outside the bait drop containment zone. TDH executive deputy commissioner Dr. Charles Bell emphasized that the vaccine drops are done to protect people, not coyotes.