Carnivores in Bolivia

 
In November, veterinarian and PhD candidate Christine Fiorello traveled once again to the Bolivian Chaco, where she continued her study of wild carnivore diseases in collaboration with the Field Vet Program. Leonardo Maffei, a biologist with WCS-Bolivia, joined Dr. Fiorello to help out. They traveled to Tucavaca and immediately went out into the field to bait and set traps to capture wild canids and felids for a radio-tracking study. Christine’s role was to immobilize the carnivores and collect samples for her health study, while Leo fitted the radiocollars. The conditions were perfect - rain and a new moon. After five days, the team was rewarded with their first carnivore, a young female ocelot they named Annelisa in honor of the late Dr. Annelisa Kilbourn. She was a small ocelot, but beautiful and healthy. She was released wearing her collar, and her signal was picked up nearby the next day.

After that first capture, Christine and Leo continued the waiting game, checking the traps twice daily. They searched for Annelisa each day, as she gradually moved south and west. Then, FVP South American Wildlife Health Fellow Rodolfo Nallar, a Bolivian veterinarian from the WCS office in La Paz, joined Christine and Leo. Although the team captured a few hawks, several lizards, and a tortoise, no more carnivores were caught. Christine, Leo and Rodolfo traveled next to Santa Cruz.

Dr. Fiorello had met earlier with both the director and the veterinarian of Santa Cruz Zoological Park. The Santa Cruz Zoo is currently housing several jaguars in quarantine facilities, as the jaguar exhibit facilities are full. Over five days, Christine, Leo, and Rodolfo safely anesthetized and took various samples from eight jaguars, two ocelots, and a crab-eating fox. After the blood samples are analyzed, those jaguars deemed healthy enough will be sent to accredited zoos in the U.S. Moving these animals out of quarantine and into exhibits in the U.S. will give them better housing and contribute much needed genetic diversity to the captive jaguar population. The ocelots and fox were immobilized to collect samples for Dr. Fiorello’s health study, and to provide Rodolfo and Leo with experience anesthetizing wild carnivores. This suite of Bolivian projects continues to expand our understanding of how to better protect the health of wild carnivores. To help fund the WCS Field Veterinary Program and its work in Bolivia, click here.

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