Jul

23

2008
 
 

Lynx between wildlife and disease



Wildlife harbors tuberculosis, threatening survival of world’s rarest cat

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is emerging as a major conservation problem in some parts of the world, as a study published this week in PLoS ONE shows. The incidence of the bacterial disease among the wild boar Sus scrofa, red Cervus elaphus and fallow deer Dama dama at Spain’s Doñana National Park – a UNESCO biosphere reserve sheltering the few remaining Iberian Lynx Lynx pardinus – has reached epidemic proportions in places. National Wildlife Research Institute biologist Christian Gortázar and colleagues found the incidence of wildlife bTB was highest in cattle-free areas of the Park. That’s a problem for the lynx, as those areas have been cleared of cows to make way for its preferred quarry, the humble rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus. Source: Gortázar C, Torres MJ, Vicente J, Acevedo P, Reglero M, de la Fuente J, Negro JJ & Aznar-Martín J (2008) Bovine tuberculosis in Doñana biosphere reserve: the role of wild ungulates as disease reservoirs in the last Iberian Lynx strongholds. PLoS ONE DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002776

Image: © Morozova Tatiana

Filed Under Endangered species, Habitat, Invasive species, Economics and conservation, Socio-political issues, Tools and technology | 

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