Raccoon rabies exists in epizootic proportions in the southeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, but efficacious oral vaccines for control of rabies in this important vector have not been previously demonstrated. Alternatively, a vaccinia recombinant virus vaccine (V-RG) expressing the ERA (Evelyn-Rokitnicki-Abelseth) rabies virus glycoprotein was highly immunogenic for laboratory animals and raccoons by the intradermal, intramuscular, and oral routes. Raccoons that ate a synthetic sponge bait containing 1.0 mL (l08 pfu/mL) of V-RG were completely (eight of eight) or 80% (eight of 10) protected from challenge with street rabies virus at 30 and 205 days after ingestion, respectively. In laboratory contact trials limited V-RG transmission occurred between animals that were rabies seronegative and those that were orally immunized and seropositive. After ingestion of bait, V-RG virus was recovered from buccal mucosa, tonsil, and parotid or submandibular lymph nodes of raccoons within 24–48 hours of oral immunization but not thereafter. Adult and immature raccoons showed no adverse clinical signs or gross or microscopic lesions attributable to V-RG vaccination at any time.