First test of oral rabies vaccine brings hope to the world’s rarest canid

Research published this week in the journal Vaccine, reports field trials of the oral vaccine SAG2 in Ethiopian wolves,Africa’s most threatened carnivore and the world’s rarest canid. The trials, undertaken by the University of Oxford and the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia, are the first ever conducted in wild populations of an endangered carnivore. Researchers from Ethiopia and UK tested various types of baits and ways to deliver the vaccine, trialling SAG2 in three wolf packs. Of 21 wolves trapped after vaccinations, 14 were positive for a biomarker indicating that the animal had ingested the bait; of these, half showed antibody titres in blood above the universally recognised threshold, and 86% had levels considered sufficient to provide protective immunity to wildlife. Wolves were closely monitored after the vaccination; all but one of the wolves vaccinated were alive 14 months later (higher than average survival).