19 June 2009
Vaccinating Ethiopian Wolves
| Rabies Outbreak in the Bale Mountains – Vaccinating Ethiopian Wolves Posted: 19 Jun 2009 02:03 AM PDT It’s 2am on the Sanetti Plateau. And it’s cold. Very cold. There’s no wind, no sound at all in fact. With the sleeping bag pulled over my head it’s only through a small crack that I can see the light from the full moon filtering through the tent fabric. Then suddenly the silence is shattered by a slightly out-of-breath cry: “Wolf!” Ibrahim, our vet assistant, has just checked the traps and has run back to report that we’ve caught a wolf! There is an immediate flurry of activity in the surrounding tents. Beanies and gloves are hastily pulled on, vet supplies are checked, someone grabs a large blanket, and we’re off. In the moonlight it’s easy to find our way over the deserted landscape, towards the trap where our Ethiopian wolf awaits.
As we near the trap site, we hang back while Ibrahim and Alo spread the blanket between them and make their way towards the wolf. Suddenly they break into a run, and in a flash have thrown the blanket over the surprised wolf and are holding it on the ground. As soon as it is covered, the wolf relaxes, and the rest of us rush in to assist with the vaccinations.
It’s an adult male, he’s in good health and probably weighs about 17kg. From his size, coat colour and teeth wear, Claudio reckons he’s the dominant male of the pack. Leta quickly gives him two doses of rabies vaccine, one on each hindquarter, and attaches a blue tag to his left ear for identification purposes.
His legs are checked for any trap injuries, and within five minutes he’s ready to be released. Alo loosens his hold on the wolf’s body and as soon as we remove the cloth covering his eyes, he’s off into the night, turning only once to look back at us before running off. All in a night’s work.
That was wolf number four from Nyala pack – only one more to catch and we can move on to the next pack.Over the past two weeks the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme (EWCP) team has been camped at over 4,000m above sea level on the Sanetti plateau, running a vaccination campaign to prevent a rabies outbreak from spreading through the wolf population. EWCP wolf monitors first noticed something was wrong when they returned from a trip to the West Morebawa population – 11 wolf carcasses were found and samples sent to laboratories returned positive results for rabies. The EWCP team, based in the Bale Mountains, was given permission by the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority to vaccinate 50 wolves in the Sanetti population against rabies, with the aim of isolating the outbreak and stopping its spread. We sprung into action and managed to successfully vaccinate a total of 48 wolves in 9 packs, making sure that at least one female in each pack was vaccinated. For now, the threat of rabies seems to have been contained, but for how long? Interventions like these are a costly exercise, requiring a hefty investment in terms of both finances and EWCP resources. And it only takes one rabid dog to come into contact with one Ethiopian wolf for the disease to spread like wildfire. Left unchecked, a rabies outbreak could have devastating effects on a species that numbers less than 450 animals in the world today.
The Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme has to tackle emergency rabies outbreaks like this as soon as it can and therefore funds are vital in order to purchase vaccinations. Any funds you would are able to offer will be very well spent protecting the Ethiopian wolf from extinction. |
10 November 2008
Rabies "barrier" to save Ethiopian wolves
Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme
Press Release
10 November 2008
A team of dedicated conservationists is battling to save the world's rarest wolf from a rabies outbreak by creating a 'barrier' of vaccinated wolf packs.
With less than 500 left, the endangered Ethiopian wolf teeters on the brink of extinction. In their stronghold in the
'Despite the efforts of our veterinary team, who vaccinate thousands of dogs in Bale's villages every year, the virus has raised its ugly head again and jumped into the wolf population,' said Dr Claudio Sillero of
A team led by Claudio, EWCP Coordinator Dr Graham Hemson and Dr Fekadu Shiferaw of the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority is implementing a plan to vaccinate wolf packs to create a 'barrier' to prevent the virus from spreading. The researchers knew from previous outbreaks that they had to move quickly to stop the virus in its tracks so they began by vaccinating the first wolf on 20 October.
'Tracking and vaccinating these animals is a far from easy task,' said Dr Sillero. 'Our veterinary team are travelling on horse-back and camping out in remote mountains above 12,000 feet with temperatures falling as low as -15°C. But the first three weeks of the intervention have gone well with the team vaccinating to date forty-eight wolves in eleven vital packs that connect the
'These preciously rare wolves can ill-afford it another massive die-off', concluded Claudio.
Researchers at
Professor David Macdonald, Director of Oxford's WildCRU, commented 'It is only because of years of intensive research that we have the information, and strategies, in place to mount this ambitious vaccination plan. It's a powerful example of the importance of the science and practice of wildlife conservation combined in the effort to deliver practical solutions.'
The intervention has been endorsed by the IUCN Canid Specialist Group and the IUCN Wildlife Health Specialist Group, and has been sanctioned by the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA) and Oromia Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Dr Claudio Sillero
The story in the news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7715693.stm
EWCP is a WildCRU (www.wildcru.org),
For more information on Ethiopian wolf conservation go to www.ethiopianwolf.org
03 September 2008
Wolves vaccinated in 2003 developed protective levels of antibodies against rabies!By Darryn Knobel
Knobel DL, Fooks AR, Brookes M, Randall DA, Williams SD, Argaw K, Shiferaw F, Tallents LA and Laurenson MK (2008). Trapping and vaccination of endangered Ethiopian wolves to control an outbreak of rabies. Journal of Applied Ecology 45: 109–11
This paper describes the trapping and vaccination effort that was undertaken by EWCP to control an outbreak of rabies that occurred in the
02 September 2008
Let’s talk about rats!Update from Flavie Vial, PhD student
The afroalpine of the
I attempt to establish critical links between vegetation, livestock grazing and rodent communities through field investigations and through the construction of enclosures within which no livestock is allowed. The building of these enclosures will unequivocally determine the extent to which livestock grazing has an impact on vegetation diversity/biomass and rodent abundance in the BMNP as well as inform us on the recovery time-scale of the system once livestock grazing is removed. Elsewhere, research has shown that both plant and rodent populations can respond rapidly to the removal of grazing pressure although responses may not stabilise until several years following grazing exclusion. Thus, establishing the enclosures is an investment that will exceed the duration of my PhD and will provide the park with important infrastructures to develop the scientific basis for future management of natural resources strategies. I will then use these findings to carry out some predictive modelling of the impact of livestock-rodents competition on wolves and determine areas where high levels of grazing are predicted to affect the long-term survival of the wolves.
28 June 2007
Edie Hemson
James' Farewell
Graham
18 June 2007
Graham Norton: Saving Wolves - Monday 2 July 7pm BBC One
Passionate dog-lover Graham Norton travels to
Other programs in the series:
Will Young: Saving Gorillas Monday 25 June, 7pm
Fiona Bruce: Saving Tigers Tuesday 26 June, 7pm
Edith Bowman: Saving Crocodiles Wednesday 27 June, 7pm
Carol Thatcher: Saving Albatrosses Thursday 28 June, 7pm
Phil Tufnell: Saving Rhinos Friday 29 June, 7pm
Jack Osbourne: Saving Elephants Tuesday 3 July, 7pm
Saving Planet Earth
Saira Khan: Saving Turtles Thursday 5 July, 7pm
Nick Knowles: Saving Orang-utans Friday 6 July, 7pm
Saving Planet Earth – LIVE Friday 6 July, 7.30pm & 8.30pm - The Saving Planet Earth star-studded fundraising spectacular. Hosted by Alan Titchmarsh, with Graham Norton, live from the Royal Botanic Gardens in
The BBC Wildlife Fund is a brand new charity, established in May 2007, to supports work protecting wildlife under threat around the world. Initially, the Fund is getting the bulk of its money from the appeal promoted in the BBC Saving Planet Earth TV series. Money raised will be prioritised for distribution among the projects featured in the Saving Planet Earth programmes. Grants will be decided – by the Trustees– in the autumn of 2007 and will usually provide funding over three years. Hopefully, enough money will be raised for a second round of grants to be awarded in 2008, open to new and existing applicants.
New EWCP member Edie Alice Hemson
On 11th June Graham and Ness Hemson welcomed the first addition to their family and the newest member of the EWCP team into the world, Edie Alice Hemson.
Adieu James
After two years of service in mountains of Dinsho and the offices of Addis Ababa, James Malcolm has returned to Redlands University in California. He will be sorely missed by the staff at EWCP who organised a spontaneous party on his final day, giving up their Sunday and their own money to prepare a feast, coffee ceremony and all male dance team! The evening was a wonderful celebration of James’ time at the helm of EWCP in Ethiopia and the affection the staff have for him was very clear. They presented him with several thoughtful presents that he will doubtless cherish.
Over the past two years James has endured considerable personal challenges as well as a very challenging time for EWCP. Despite this adversity James leaves EWCP and the staff enriched, enlightened and in a better position than when he started. We have a brand new Memorandum of Understanding with the federal and state governments (a journey that took two years of patient liaison) an enthusiastic and empowered team working in Dinsho and the mountains and wonderful opportunity to extend the activities of the EWCP into the second most important wolf area, Arsi.
James’ involvement with Ethiopia spans three decades and I felt privileged to spend the last month with him in Ethiopia. His enthusiasm for and knowledge of Bale, Oromia and Ethiopia is inspirational and infectious and his commitment cannot be questioned. While we bid him a fond farewell we expect to see him back in Bale before too long. He seems unable to stay away for too long!
Bon voyage and best wishes James,
Graham Hemson
