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!