Wildlife officials are boosting a program to vaccinate raccoons in an effort to prevent the spread of rabies in Maine and northward into Canada. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is distributing 350-thousand oral vaccination baits across northeastern Maine. Maine’s state veterinarian says the program’s expansion is meant to prevent the northern spread of raccoon-variant rabies. Doctor Michele Walsh says cases have been identified in parts of Canada, including New Brunswick, where rabies had largely been absent in recent decades.