Wildlife health

Name of research programme

Collaborating Organization

Expected benefits

Understanding the effects of climate change on mammals physiology

Brain Function Research Group, School of Physiology, University of the Witwatersrand (Prof Duncan Mitchell and Prof Andrea Fuller) and Aarhus University (Prof Tobias Wang)

Mitigation of negative effects of climate change

Establishing a rodent model of capture-stress and myopathy and establishing novel treatments for these conditions.

Centre of Excellence for Pharmaceutical Sciences and MRC Unit on Risk and Resilience, University of the North West (Prof Brian Harvey, Dr Dewet Wolmarans, Dr Francois Viljoen)

Novel treatments for capture myopathy in translocated wildlife species

Establishing assisted/artificial reproduction technologies in rhinoceros

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (Dr Barbara Durrant)

Rhinoceros conservation

Improving veterinary management practices in free-living wild mammals

SANParks Veterinary Wildlife Services (Dr Peter Buss)

Safer practices during wildlife handling

Improving the safety of rhinoceros anaesthesia

Section of Anaesthesiology, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University (Prof Robin Gleed and Dr Jordyn Boesch)

Improved immobilization protocol for rhinoceros

Improving the safety of veterinary management practices in African and European mammals.

University of Veterinary Medicine (Vetmeduni Wien) Vienna (Drs Gabrielle Stalder, Johanna Painer and Friederike Pohlin) and Copenhagen Zoo (Dr Mads Bertelsen)

Safer practices during wildlife handling

Wildlife diseases

Vaccination of African buffalo against bovine tuberculosis

University of Castilla-La Mancha C Gortazar), Neiker (R Juste), Utrecht University (V Rutten).

Exploring vaccination as a control measure for bovine tuberculosis

Transmission and evolution of anthrax in two natural systems

University of Wisconsin, University of Maine, North-West University, Skukuza State Veterinary Services, Etosha National Park Ecological Institute

Improved knowledge on the epidemiology of anthrax in natural ecosystems

Epidemiological and ecological aspects of anthrax

University of Glasgow

Characterization of selected diseases in wildlife and their ticks

University of Padova, Italy

Disease surveillance

Exposure of Eidolon helvum to lineages of Lagos bat Virus, public health awareness to bat rabies, and molecular epidemiology of coronaviruses in Makurdi

Animal and Plant Health Agency (United Kingdom) & University of Agriculture Makurdi (Nigeria)

Knowledge on maintenance host potential of straw-coloured bat species of Lagos bat virus lineages and coronaviruses (active).

Molecular characterisation of rabies viruses and assessment of rabies neutralising antibodies in lions in Madikwe Game Reserve.

Madikwe Game Reserve (Rob Harrison-White)

Determine source of rabies virus infection and determine whether rabies vaccines can protect lion prides in the Game Reserve (active).

Exposure of fruit-eating bat species to lyssaviruses in Bauchi region (Nigeria)

National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI, Nigeria)

Establish maintenance host species to a variety of lyssaviruses.

Assessing uptake of baited vaccines in black-backed jackals in the Cradle of Humankind

Medical Centres

Determine the usefulness of complementary vaccination strategies for wildlife

Domestic animal diseases

Diversity of Anaplasma species in South Africa: impact on diagnostic tests

Washington State University (K Brayton).

Advancement in the diagnosis of anaplasmosis in cattle by improved differentiation between Anaplasma species

Molecular characterization of arboviruses in South African Livestock

USA Agricultural Research Service

Detection of arboviruses posing potential animal disease threats Modelling of effects of climate change and encroachment of livestock into wild areas

Domestic cattle - wildlife interface - Investigation on the presence of lumpy skin disease virus in wild ruminants in close proximity to LSD affected cattle farms

Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut: Institut für Internationale Tiergesundheit, Germany

Elucidating the potential role of wildlife as reservoir for LSD virus

Detection of infectious diseases in livestock slaughtered at abattoirs in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and zoonotic hazards posed to abattoir workers

University of Fort Hare

Zoonotic disease risk investigation for abattoir workers and zoonotic awareness education

Rabid dog sampling in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Erasmus University (Netherlands) and the Agricultural Research Council (OVR)

Understand dynamics of inter-host, viral evolution and understand key mechanisms of immune suppression in naturally infected dogs.