If it is a mammal then it can carry rabies.
End of story - take no chances.

Drake's prey drive is not a huge surprise - I said that this was something you had to prepare for. He is now well past the age when he would be learning to hunt as part of the pack and will soon be looking for signals from you, as pack leader, to begin the planned hunt.

You need to restamp dominance with Drake and be aware of your body language. Stop any games where he sometimes wins ( tug of war) and stop giving squeeky toys. (If you ever did these things...it is a lot better if you don't.)

Drake will continue to follow his instinctive drives unless he has a pack leader with him or he is shut in a cage where he can do no harm to others. (In case you are wondering I have not suddenly converted to crate training and do not think that caging this animal is an option!!!)

The best thing you can do is to channel this behaviour - find a club that trains tracking dogs, mountain rescue, missing persons....anything that will let him hunt, get a result and make him feel satisfied with the result.