Rabies Challenge Fund
receives joint donation

ANNOUNCING a joint $35,000 matching gift to the Jiggy, Jan and Chiclet Rabies Challenge Fund Jan Rasmusen, author of the national award winning book, Scared Poopless: The Straight Scoop on Dog Care and two anonymous dog lovers announce a combined $35,000 matching gift to The Rabies Challenge Fund. Jan’s gift is being made on behalf of her dog, Chiclet, in honor of Chiclet’s companion, Jiggy, who developed autoimmune liver disease after a rabies shot.

Jan Rasmusen says, “By helping to fund the Rabies Challenge studies, we have the chance to help better the lives of not just hundreds of dogs, or even thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dogs. We can potentially help to improve the health of every pet dog in America. How exciting is that!” The anonymous donors add: "We are totally dedicated to the Rabies Challenge Fund and its mission and are so pleased to be able to support it with this matching gift of $35,000.”

From May 1st to August 31st, for donations of $100 or more, Jan and the anonymous donors will match $1 of every $2 donated up to $35,000, and Jan will send an autographed copy of her book for donations above $500 as well. Also, Chiclet has enlisted the support of canine movie star, Benji, who says "This important study is long overdue. I give the Rabies Challenge study four BIG paws up!"

"Donations from our team of dedicated supporters, like Jan and the anonymous dog lovers, along with steady grass-roots public contributions have launched our second year of fund-raising with a bang!" said fund co-trustee, Dr W Jean Dodds.

Funded by grass-roots donations, the rabies challenge studies began in November 2007 with the goal of extending the required interval for rabies boosters to five, and then seven years. Dr Ronald Schultz, chair of the Department of Pathobiology of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, is conducting the studies according to USDA vaccine-licensing standards. Previous French research on the rabies vaccine demonstrated a minimum of five years duration of immunity by challenge. American serological studies showed a minimum duration of immunity of seven years.

"It is so exciting and important to get support for the Rabies Challenge Fund from as many dog owners as possible. The very generous combined $35,000 matching gift from Jan Rasmusen and the anonymous donors will go a long way to provide the funding required for these critically important rabies vaccine studies,” commented Dr.Schultz.

Fund founder, Kris L. Christine, says, “We’re thrilled about these generous gifts and Benji’s endorsement, which will make a huge difference in helping us meet our second year’s budget for the studies!” Find more information on the matching $35,000 gift to The Rabies Challenge Fund at our website designed by Andrea Brin www.RabiesChallengeFund.org and on Jan Rasmusen’s Truth 4 Dogs website at www.Truth4Dogs.org.

Wyoming update
The e-mail below, shared with permission from the recipient, from the President of the Cheyenne City Council, Don Pierson, was received 4/29/08 by the lead activist in Wyoming, Karon Volk:
"Hello Mrs Volk Just a follow-up to let you know that the Mayor and I are working together and have instructed the city attorney to prepare an ordinance or a resolution to take care of the one year vs three year problem. All the research I have found says that to require our city residents to get the vaccination for their pets every year is unnecessary. I will let you know when it will be ready for introduction and would hope that you would like to attend our meetings and testify about the situation. Let me know if there is anything else I can do at this time about this situation. Thanks for all your info you provided and your concern."

ISDRA-International Sled Dog Racing Association
After Steve Goldman, a concerned ISDRA member, contacted the International Sled Dog Racing Association about ISDRA-sanctioned races requiring annual rabies vaccinations for sled dogs and asked for assistance, I wrote the letter to the executive director. Mr Steele responded immediately and will be publishing announcements in two issues of Dog and Driver before the proposal comes before the full ISDRA Board. If you are concerned about racing events that require sled dogs to receive redundant annual rabies boosters, please e-mail Dave Steele at dsteele@brainerd.net.

Additives concern
Rabies is a "killed" vaccine and contains adjuvants to enhance the immunological response. Mercury (Thimersol) is commonly found as a preservative in killed, adjuvanted veterinary vaccines such as rabies, leptospira, and lyme. The combination of mercury with adjuvant components (aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate) are of considerable concern because of the reactive properties of aluminum, when in contact with mercury. Reactivity with aluminum is so acute that mercury may not be packed in checked or carry-on baggage on commercial airplanes and there is currently a petition to Congress, the Removal of Aluminum Additive in Vaccines Resolution and Petition, citing as cause for removing aluminum in human vaccines that: "The combination of mercury plus aluminum is far worse than the sum of the two toxicities added together. The synergistic toxicity could be increased to unknown levels."

Tennessee effort
Tennessee dog owners have launched an effort to change the annual rabies immunization laws required by various counties in Tennessee to the three-year standard recommended by the CDC's National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians and The American Veterinary Medical Association.

What you can do to help - Send an e-mail to the contacts below - it's easy to copy and paste addresses into an e-mail. If you're ambitious, please phone some of the contacts or fax them a letter, and circulate this message to all of your dog-owning contacts and ask them to help the dogs of Tennessee by sending an e-mail to request a change in rabies immunization protocol from a one year to the national three-year standard.

Cookeville Contacts http://www.cookeville-tn.org/; Mayor Sam Sallee mayor@cookeville-tn.org Phone: 931-520-5241; City Manager Jim Shipley jshipley@cookeville-tn.org Phone: 931-526-9591 Fax: 931-526-4897; Cookeville City Council members: jdavis@cookeville-tn.org; rshelton@cookeville-tn.org; aanderson@cookeville-tn.org; rwilliams@cookeville-tn.org; clm@cookeville-tn.org.
Putnam County contacts and executive: Kim Blaylock debby@putnamco.org 300 E. Spring Street Room 8, Cookeville, TN 38501 Phone: (931) 526-2161 Fax: (931) 528-1300 County Attorney Jeffrey G. Jones, 1420 Neal Street, Cookeville, TN 38501; Phone: 931-372-9123, Fax: (932) 372-9181.

Many thanks for assisting the dogs in your own and other states! Your efforts helped defeat a proposed change in Maine's laws and are making the change to a three-year protocol in Cheyenne possible and may also result in Wichita switching to the three-year standard (negotiations are encouraging on that front). Excellent work!