
Nick Begich
51:06 - 51:34
"Rabies is not a historical threat in northern and western Alaska. It's enzoonotic, meaning it is consistently present in the wildlife, and our communities live with the risk of an exposure event every single year."
“Rabies is not a historical threat in northern and western Alaska. It's enzoonotic, meaning it is consistently present in the wildlife, and our communities live with the risk of an exposure event every single year.”
Rabies is not a historical threat in northern and western Alaska. It's enzoonotic, meaning it is consistently present in the wildlife, and our communities live with the risk of an exposure event every single year. The numbers tell the story. Alaska Native children are hospitalized for dog bites at roughly twice the rate of children nationally. In the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, that rate climbs to 7 to 9 times than national per capita average.
A House subcommittee took testimony June 9 on legislation that would transfer a dormant 2000 tribal regulatory reform mandate from Commerce to Interior, 25 years after the authority was supposed to convene.

Rep. Nick Begich's H.R. 8473 would let the Indian Health Service fund rabies vaccination and spay/neuter in rural Alaska, where rabies is endemic in foxes.
