Rabies in human beings is always fatal. The commonest source of human infection is the domestic dog, which in turn is infected by wild carnivorous animals. As a result of the widespread outbreak of rabies in recent years in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas there have been demands for wholesale slaughter of certain wild animals. The recently published fifth report of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Expert Committee on Rabies recommends control of certain vector species. The danger, as Michael Woodford points out in this assessment of the report, is that the methods used will almost certainly involve the killing of other harmless wildlife.