It is very frustrating to see another article about fox attacks that is filled with so much misleading information (“State watching rabies attacks, new strain potential issue,” April 30).

Specifically, the statement that “Bath’s $26,611 program to bait and euthanize foxes failed.” First, the program was never about euthanizing foxes. It was about euthanizing vector animals. Second, your own article identifies that a strain of rabies is “more associated with raccoons.” The fact that the Bath program captured mostly raccoons may be the reason that after having the highest recorded rabid animal attack cases in the state, we have had none since the program. Yet every community around Bath has experienced attacks. Yet your journalist made an unfounded statement without contacting anyone in Bath associated with this program. This is unfortunate as future articles on this subject will likely continue to report the same unfounded statement.

The rabies issue is complicated. Bath continues to work with state wildlife representatives and the USDA office in Augusta along with an effort to contact other communities.

The drastic measures Bath took will not be repeated. But at the time, the public was looking for a response to a real and deadly threat. If your reporter had bothered to make one phone call to our town office, they could have received lots of information.

Peter Owen
Bath City Manager