Born Free

Category: EWCP | Date: Aug 28 2009 | By: bornfree

In early August, EWCP had one of our students from Mekelle University in Ethiopia write up his findings on a study he did looking at rabies in villages surrounding the Bale Mountains National Park, where EWCP is based. The student, Abera Yilma, has been conducting research into the effectiveness of EWCP dog vaccinations and was comparing the incidence of rabies in vaccinated and unvaccinated villages.

Abera went from village to village, interviewing community members and farmers about the incidence of rabies in these areas over the past 5 years. Interviewees were asked how many cases of rabies there had been in humans, livestock and dogs. The answers from people in kebeles (villages) where vaccinations had not taken place were then compared to those people living in kebeles where EWCP vaccinations had occurred.

The results clearly showed that the number of rabies cases in unvaccinated villages was much higher, often with five times as many rabies cases occurring in these villages! In vaccinated villages, there were no reported cases of rabies in humans, while in unvaccinated villages there were a total of 55 cases in the past 5 years! The number of dogs with rabies was also drastically reduced when they were vaccinated. In the unvaccinated areas there were 150 cases of rabies reported in dogs over the past 5 years, compared to a total of only 20 cases in the vaccinated villages.

Rabies is the major threat to the survival of the endangered Ethiopian Wolf, and has the potential to wipe out the last remaining populations of this very special species. For the past ten years, the EWCP vet team has worked throughout the Bale area to vaccinate domestic dogs, helping to control and prevent the spread of the disease to humans and animals. Abera’s rabies study has proved that vaccinations of domestic dogs are successful in preventing rabies in these villages.

But it isn’t always easy to get villagers to bring their dogs for these voluntary vaccinations. Hopefully the results from Abera’s study can be used in our education campaign to help them realize how important these vaccinations are, not only for the survival of the wolves, but also for their own health and that of their livestock!

Your donations can help the EWCP vet team reach their annual target of vaccinating 7000 dogs in and around the Bale Mountains National Park!

No responses yet

Category: EWCP | Date: Aug 21 2009 | By: bornfree

Following on from the recent Ethiopian wolf rabies vaccinations during May and June, life has settled down somewhat in the Bale Mountains. The EWCP monitoring team has been deployed to Sanetti (the vaccination site) and back to Morebawa (the rabies outbreak site). We also have a constant presence in the Web Valley (the October outbreak site). The good news is that no wolf carcasses have been found since the end of vaccinations in June. The two carcasses found on the Sanetti Plateau during the vaccinations tested negative for rabies. As they were both juveniles, they most likely died naturally – this time of year sees high mortality in wolves of this age, due to them being independent and struggling to find food by themselves.

We have had repeated visits to the packs where we were vaccinating in Sanetti. All wolves except one have been observed since they were vaccinated. This is an exceptionally high return rate, a great effort by the monitoring team.

We recently had further good news on the return of the team from Morebawa. During the rabies outbreak, the team had only seen 26 live wolves, and so it was feared that as many as 70 were dead or missing. However, we have now sighted 32 live wolves, and we know that seven of the remaining eleven packs still have an adult male and an adult female. The survival of these breeding pairs will be crucial for ensuring a rapid recovery of wolf numbers in this area.

All the monitoring team have worked exceptionally hard and we are lucky to have such dedicated and skilled staff. 

Tags: ethiopia, rabies, wolf

One response so far

Category: Born Free, Born Free Ethiopia | Date: Aug 18 2009 | By: bornfree

Working in Ethiopia continues to be a massive challenge. Although the site was officially gifted to Born Free Foundation by the Region of Oromiya to create a Wildlife Rescue, Conservation and Education Centre, it now appears there are still some legal issues to resolve. I have stopped all work until the Federal and Regional Government departments give us the final green light to continue the infrastructure development.

However, as I have mentioned in earlier Blogs, Born Free Foundation Ethiopia is now the primary wildlife rescue organisation in the country, and the Rescue and Care Programme started back in 2007.

In future Blogs I will keep you up to date with the animals in my care. To date these are:

The Dolo Lion

The ‘Italian lions’ (now sporting magnificent manes)

Sheba the cheetah

Menelik the cheetah (growing fast, with the most charming temperament. Long may that last!)

Cody the eagle owl

In many gardens in Addis Ababa, there are giant tortoises. Most of the Embassy compounds and the Presidential Palace have several. It is reported that these tortoises can live for over a hundred years, so many of the larger tortoises will have lived through the rule of Emperor Haile Selassie (the King of Rastafaris) and Mengistu.

For those of you who are gardeners, giant tortoises make slugs and aphids very small fry. As I have discovered, giant tortoises are not a gardener’s friend! If they don’t eat the plants (and they can reach a surprisingly long way with their necks at full stretch) they only need to drag their considerable weight across a flower bed and in minutes the herbaceous border looks like a Panzer tank has run over it.
Perhaps there has been a sudden interest in gardening over the past year, as the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority has received several requests (including from a Government Minister) to rescue tortoises from Addis gardens. Born Free Foundation has agreed to look after some until they can live on the 77 hectare Wildlife site.

As for the lions, cheetah and eagle owl, we have created a temporary enclosure for the tortoises and built a palatial shelter (well-deserved, having lived through the reign of a king). The tortoises can escape the hail and torrential rain of the wet season, and will be able to find relief from the heat of the sun in the dry season.

One of the smaller tortoise shares Menelik’s temporary enclosure. Aesop should really have written his famous fable about a tortoise and a cheetah as the comparison of speed is far more marked than a tortoise and a hare.

At first, Menelik was rather curious about the slow moving creature, but the tortoise now rules the enclosure. When Menelik catnaps in the sun (like all cats, it’s one of his favourite past times) if the tortoise approaches, Menelik sighs loudly and moves off to find peace in another part of the enclosure.

More news soon.
James

4 responses so far