Using Wildlife Disease Management as a Tool to Prevent Outbreaks

Wildlife Disease Management is a key factor in preventing outbreaks like COVID-19 from happening again

This year we have been hit with one of the biggest health crises in modern history. Experts agree that if immediate action is not taken, it is highly likely that such occurrences will be more frequent. IUCN Save Our Species and the Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (the Tiger Programme) are sharing examples of projects we support and that aim to prevent these threats. These projects also have the advantage of building capacity while increasing the resilience of local communities to similar future crises.

What is happening?

The transmission of infectious diseases from animals to humans is nothing new. COVID-19 is only the latest example; other recent epidemics, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Ebola, also originated from animals. Every day, humans get closer to animals due the pressures we put on the environment: habitat loss, wildlife trade, and the hunting and consumption of wild animals are still highly unregulated, and thus continually open pathways for animal-human transmissions. This unsustainable contact and wildlife destruction has led to “ecosystem disruptions [that have altered] infectious disease transmission patterns”, according to Dr. Bernadette Abela-Ridder* from the World Health Organization. She further explains that “75% of emerging infectious diseases in people are of zoonotic origin”, adding that “animals including wildlife harbour microorganisms that may not yet have been identified. Some are able to jump the species barrier given the right conditions”. “Wildlife surveillance is an important tool that helps provide information on cross-species disease transmission risks” says Dr. Abela-Ridder. Another recommended response is the application of the One Health approach. This is a collaborative effort between different sectors and disciplines that aims to achieve health benefits for humans, animals, plants, and the environment.

What can we do about it?

The approach described is currently being used in some of our projects:

Following a series of wildlife disease outbreaks in India that originated from domestic animals, a conservation initiative supported by IUCN’s Tiger Programme is working with veterinarians to immunize livestock, and reduce disease transmission to wild ungulate species that make up the tiger’s prey. Immunization protects both livestock and wild species from disease transmission across shared resources such as grazing areas or water sources. This will enhance coexistence in a region where increasing human populations and their livestock have led to higher contact rates between species.

Read more

In another IUCN Tiger Programme project, veterinarians and the local government are developing a similar livestock vaccination programme that will benefit tigers in Myanmar, in order to prevent seasonal livestock disease outbreaks from infecting tiger prey species such as pigs and deers.

Read more

Threatened canids such as Ethiopian wolves and African wild dogs are particularly susceptible to infectious diseases such as rabies and canine distemper, which often wipe out local populations. Work supported by IUCN Save Our Species in Ethiopia and Kenya, aim to help key populations of these species cope with recurrent outbreaks, by locally suppressing rabies and canine distemper through public awareness and vaccination campaigns for domestic dogs and wild canids. As such, these projects protect the health of humans, livestock and wild carnivores, securing the survival of precious remaining populations of these flagship species.

Read more about the project in Ethiopia

What about the future?

IUCN Save Our Species recently updated its ongoing Rapid Action Grant programme as part of the African Wildlife Initiative to invite applications that respond to impacts on threatened species linked to the COVID-19 crisis and its consequences. Going forward, IUCN Save Our Species and the Tiger Programme are exploring ways to integrate wildlife disease management and preparedness into all our future projects. The objective is to strengthen activities that will reduce the risk of zoonotic diseases spreading into human communities, while giving local communities the tools to prevent, recognise, and respond to infections before they achieve epidemic proportions.

* Dr Bernadette Abela-Ridder works at World Health Organization (WHO) leading the work on diseases associated with the human animal ecosystems interface at the Department for the Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)

Open call for proposals

As part of the SOS African Wildlife initiative, funded by the European Union, IUCN Save Our Species is inviting proposals for Rapid Action Grants to respond to threats linked to the COVID-19 crisis and its consequences.

Apply now

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation (DNP) in Thailand is accepting proposals for tiger conservation in the western portion of Thailand’s Western Forest Complex

Apply now

Thank you to our partners

About us

IUCN Save Our Species contributes to the long-term survival of threatened species, their habitats and the people who depend on them by supporting civil society organisations. It aims at building the capacity of many of these organisations and communicating about the successes to inspire more people to support this universal cause. This is IUCN's response to the challenges identified by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ mobilising IUCN's unique knowledge and expertise of the members of the Species Survival Commission and its many Specialist Groups.

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The Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHCP) or ‘Tiger Programme‘ is an initiative funded by the German Cooperation via KfW Development Bank, which contributes to the global effort to double tiger numbers in the wild by 2022 by supporting landscape level conservation work benefiting species, communities and habitats. Coordinated actions enhancing conservation skills, developing new livelihoods and improving governance and infrastructure are delivering results in terms of better protected tigers across these landscapes.

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Photography credits

Header: WCS Myanmar
India project: Wildlife Trust of India
Myanmar project: WCS Myanmar
Ethiopia project: WildCRU

Call for proposals #1: CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAMS
Call for proposals #2: Sascha Kohlmann

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