Dr. Denny Constantine, a researcher and veterinarian, is testing his “rabid only” skunk traps in Morris and Cass counties. The traps utilize a high-pitch sound, which Constantine is checking with headphones. — Staff photo by Montgomery

March 23, 2006 - A leading authority on rabies in bats is visiting the Morris/Cass County area, putting out “special” traps designed to attract rabid animals. Yet in East Texas, it’s not bats that are targeted, but rather rabid skunks. Morris and Cass counties are known to have high concentrations of rabid skunks.

Dr. Denny Constantine has been doing researching on rabid animals for over 50 years. 

With the skunk project, live animal traps have a voice activator that projects high-pitch sounds. This sound is “beyond our hearing. Dogs and cats can hear it, but we can’t, Constantine explained. And, don’t worry about Fido and Fluffy getting in the traps; he applies pet repellent to keep them away.

“The rabid skunks will be attracted to the high-pitch sound. Healthy skunks don’t seem to be affected by the noise,” he said on March 14 at the site of a trap setting.

This has been proven in the lab, but the researcher wanted to see if it held true in nature. 

Constantine has been “batty” from an early age. He said around the age of 5, he became fascinated by a dead bat that some boys from the neighborhood were playing with. The fascination has grown into a career. 

This career began at the age of 17 when he hitchhiked to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. It was during this time that the “Bat Bomb Project” was being considered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The project’s objective was to take bats, from Carlsbad, and attach a bomb to them. They would then be flown to Japan and dropped from airplanes. The bombs were to be detonated and mini fires would begin all around Japan. The project never got off the ground; instead the atomic bomb was used.

In 1955, Constantine began a  career with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and worked there until his retirement in 1976. 

While working for CDC, he was put in control of studying bat rabies in the United States. Most of these studies covered migratory routes which was primarily through Mexico, but he also developed a trap, while working at the Carlsbad Caverns, that would ensnare only bats that were infected with rabies.

The invention consists of coils, fine wire, funnel-shaped plastic, and a mason jar with water. Constantine said the bats would be attracted to the noise submitted by the “fire alarm” and would fly into the wire, getting entangled. The bats would then slide downward, through a funnel into the jar, eventually drowning. 

The method proved that rabid bats are attracted to the particular sound, and that sound will also be used in the East Texas rabid skunk study.

Also, while working with the Carlsbad Cavern bats, the researcher/veterinarian discovered airborne rabies. This success enabled him to receive more governmental help for his projects.

Retirement didn’t squash the researcher’s need to keep seeking knowledge about bats and rabies. Instead, he went to work for the California Health Department.

After researching bats for years, in 1989, he retired again, and went out on his own and began “research on bats and perceived that as a model for skunks and other four-legged animals.” This study was to see if skunks, another animal that has high concentrations of rabies, would also be attracted to high-pitched sound. 

The proven-in-the-lab theory for attracting only rabid bats with the traps is now being tested in the wilds of East Texas.

These wilds have also been noticed by Dr. James Wright, regional zoonosis veterinarian at the Texas Department of State Health Services in Tyler. Wright recently had the opportunity to be at the testing site with Constantine. “This is a fascinating project. It will be interesting to see what results Dr. Constantine gets with his ‘rabid skunk attraction’” research.

One might think he would test dogs, who also can get rabies, instead of skunks, but his response is: “Dogs need to be tested in their ‘natural’ environment ... the wild. Today, most dogs are vaccinated for rabies.”

Dogs, Constantine stated, is the reason Asia has a high number of deaths from rabies. He said they (Asians) feed stray dogs twice a day. These dogs are not vaccinated and therefore the people come into contact with the rabid animals.   

The researcher said he is trying to “find a way of selectively attracting rabies-infected animals to the exclusion of healthy animals.” In simpler terms, he is “filtering rabid animals from their animal population.”

For 16 years Constantine has continued on his “self-supported” route. He said people have offered monetary support but “it could have never succeeded because people want immediate satisfaction. Anybody who wanted to help had better be in there for the long haul.”

At 80 years of age, the researcher has no plans to retire. “Life is too exciting for my perspective,” he concluded.

Anyone interested in talking to Constantine about rabid skunks, may contact himi at the Wildflower Inn, 903-639-3502, room 105.