African Wild Dogs at the Bronx Zoo
- African Wild Dogs Photo
- African wild dogs at the Bronx Zoo have helped WCS field staff to better conserve their kin in the African bush by participating in health studies to advance vaccination research for rabies and canine distemper.
- Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS
Since the Bronx Zoo opened its wild dogs exhibit in 2006, this shady stretch of the African Plains has become one of the most beloved destinations for visitors. Here, a pack of Africa’s largest canids roam together across a grassy field, nap in a heap under tall trees, and dig and splash in their specially designed sandpit and swimming hole. A glass-fronted viewing pavilion offers up-close encounters of the tight-knit pack. Part of an endangered species, the zoo’s African wild dogs have helped to raise public awareness about the plight of their cousins in the wild. They have also helped WCS field staff to better conserve their kin in the African bush by participating in health studies to advance vaccination research for rabies and canine distemper, fatal diseases seriously threatening the species.
Challenges
Only about 3,000 to 6,000 African wild dogs remain in the wild. After Ethiopian wolves, they are the continent’s most endangered carnivore. In addition to habitat fragmentation and conflicts with farmers, disease has become a great threat to the survival of wild dogs in nature. Human settlements bring wild dogs into contact with domestic dogs, which promotes the transmission of rabies, canine distemper, and other diseases. Hyenas and jackals can also spread these sicknesses. The consequences of a rabies outbreak can be severe: In 1991, it was responsible for the disappearance of wild dogs from Africa’s famed Serengeti Plain.
What WCS is Doing
Since 2000, WCS field scientists have been working to halt the dramatic declines of wild dogs in Kenya, Botswana, and Tanzania. One method has been to dart the dogs in order to vaccinate them against rabies and canine distemper. This procedure is difficult because the dogs range widely over rugged turf that is often difficult for field staff to access. In addition, multiple doses of the vaccine are required before it takes effect, posing another major hurdle.
In 2005, WCS conservationists began working with their colleagues at the Bronx Zoo—where the dogs also receive vaccines as part of their routine healthcare—to test a possible solution. The staff of the zoo’s health and mammal departments wanted to find out whether an oral vaccine, given through a treated piece of meat, would be equally effective as a booster shot. This would enable the field staff to “tempt” wild dogs in nature to take pieces of meat treated with a vaccine. The oral vaccine turned out to be a success. As a result of this work at the Bronx Zoo, the Kenya Wildlife Service allowed WCS to conduct field trials with African wild dogs in nature.