ALNA – Inspired by the love she has for her ill dog, a stay-at-home mother from rural Maine has raised enough funds to bankroll a major scientific study on how long rabies vaccines remain effective.

“These will be the first long-term challenge studies on the canine rabies vaccine to be published in the United States,” Kris Christine said this week. The research will be conducted at the School of Veterinary Medicine at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Christine believes that her beloved dog, a yellow Labrador retriever named Meadow, contracted cancer at the points on its body where rabies vaccines were injected. Even after four major surgeries, this may be Meadow’s last summer. But Christine says her determination to make Meadow’s suffering count for something could result in saving the lives of thousands of dogs throughout the country.

Christine, who has become an expert on canine rabies vaccines over the past four years, spearheaded a grass-roots effort to make changes to the laws affecting the frequency the vaccines are given. In 2004, she successfully convinced Maine lawmakers to change the vaccination requirements from annually to once every three years. She also was able in 2005 to persuade the Maine Legislature that veterinarians should provide full disclosure to pet owners regarding the vaccine’s possible dangers.

Not satisfied, however, Christine mounted an intensive fundraising campaign to pay for a scientific study on the duration of effectiveness of such vaccinations. She raised $177,000 for the study’s first year through contributions from hundreds of dog owners, canine groups, trainers, veterinarians and small businesses across the country.

Christine has called yearly and biyearly vaccinations a “cash cow” for vets and said that until she began questioning the process, “no one has challenged their practices. When they send out annual reminders to pet owners, that is deceit in connection with their practice. We had always trusted our veterinarians. This betrayal came as a stunning blow.”

Maine veterinarians who oppose Christine’s point of view repeatedly have said there is no connection between rabies vaccinations and cancer.

Christine has devoted the past two years to the fundraising effort.

“It’s going to finally happen,” Christine said recently. “Even though it will be too late for Meadow, it won’t be for thousands of dogs.”

Christine said the study, which Dr. Ronald Schultz is conducting through the School of Veterinary Medicine at University of Wisconsin-Madison, will consist of exposing immunized dogs to rabies to determine the long-term immunity provided by the canine rabies vaccine. One group of dogs will be exposed to rabies five years after being vaccinated and another group after seven years.

The research is being financed by The Rabies Challenge Fund, a charitable trust founded by Christine, who serves as a co-trustee with world-renowned veterinary research scientist and practicing clinician Dr. W. Jean Dodds of Hemopet in Garden Grove, Calif. Hemopet is a private, nonprofit animal blood bank established in 1991 that supplies more than 2,000 veterinary clinics in the United States and Canada, according to its Web site, www.hemopet.com.

“This is the first time in my 43 years of involvement in veterinary issues that what started as a grass-roots effort to change an outmoded regulation affecting animals will be addressed scientifically by an acknowledged expert to benefit all canines in the future,” Dodds said recently.

Christine is basing her efforts on scientific data published in 1992 showing that dogs were immune to rabies five years after vaccination, while Dr. Schultz’s serological studies documented antibody counts at levels known to provide immunity to rabies even seven years after the vaccination was administered.

“This data strongly suggests that state laws requiring annual or triennial rabies boosters for dogs are redundant,” Christine said in a written statement. “Because the rabies vaccine is the most potent of the veterinary vaccines and associated with significant adverse reactions, it should not be given more often than is necessary to maintain immunity.

“Because the USDA does not require vaccine manufacturers to provide long-term duration of immunity studies documenting maximum effectiveness when licensing their products, concerned dog owners have contributed the money to fund this research themselves. We want to ensure that rabies immunization laws are based upon independent, long-term scientific data,” Christine said.

More information and regular updates on The Rabies Challenge Fund can be found at www.RabiesChallengeFund.org.