Hi Everyone, The rally in Lansing, MI went fairly well on Monday. Due to the rain we had fewer people than we had hoped. But the TV stations were there and we got our point accross. One of the TV stations interviewed Ingham County Animal Control Director Allan Spyke who said that the rabies vaccine for ferrets is about 85% effective. Thanks to Dick Bossart, I sent to the TV station a brief letter along with the actual 1990 study showing IMRAB-3 to be 89% effective and the 1994 personal communication from the president of Rhone Merieux to the California Department of Fish and Game which stated that IMBAR-3 is 94.4% effective. I called the Rhone Merieux company (they make IMRAB-3) myself yesterday. On the phone, they told me that IMRAB-3 is 89% effective. When I asked how effective the rabies vaccines for cats and dogs were, they told me about 100% and 97% respectively. I keep hearing and seeing people write that the ferret vaccine is more effective than the dog and cat vaccines. I haven't seen any proof to show that that is accurate. If you have references, please send them to me! The important thing is that scientific data have demonstrated that IMRAB-3 is both effective in protecting ferrets against rabies and exceeds the minimum protection level required by the USDA, which is 86.7%. Fortunately the TV station deleted the interview by Mr. Spyke on the 11 o'clock broadcast. Now I just need to get the correct information to Mr. Spyke and other ignorant people in important positions. They can only ignore the facts for so long! Katrina Ramsell CVM 2000 [Posted in FML issue 1975]