In Ukraine, most cases of rabies are recorded in foxes, dogs and cats – data for the first half of 2025
17 July 2025 20:42
In January-June 2025, 671 cases of rabies among animals were detected in Ukraine. The disease most often affected cats (224 cases), dogs (216), and foxes (89).
This was reported by the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in response to an information request from Ukrinform, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
During this period, 562 rabies outbreaks were recorded in Ukraine, which is 49 less than in the first half of 2024. In general, the number of detected sick animals decreased by 60 cases compared to last year.
The worst epizootic situation is in Vinnytsia (72), Cherkasy (58), and Kirovohrad (45) regions.
Experts emphasize that the main source of rabies spread is wild predators, in particular foxes (they account for 78.3% of all infected wild animals), as well as raccoon dogs, martens and wolves. The constant growth of fox and wolf populations makes it difficult to fight the disease.
How Ukraine is fighting rabies
The State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection continues the annual two-time oral immunization of wild carnivores, which has proven to be an effective protection tool. The spring 2025 campaign covered most regions, except for the temporarily occupied ones: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
🔹 More than 6.8 thousand doses of the vaccine were distributed
🔹 Covered an area of more than 275.9 thousand km²
🔹 2.43 million animals were vaccinated, including
– more than 1.2 million dogs
– almost 1 million cats
This is 200 thousand more than in the same period last year.
Preparations for the autumn campaign are currently underway, which aims to consolidate the positive dynamics and prevent new outbreaks of the disease.
