For more than a year, the world has closely followed the development, approval and deployment of various coronavirus vaccines that could bring an end to the global pandemic, debating every side effect and hurdle. But vaccines aren’t only used to spare humans from the ravages of disease; increasingly, they’re being used to conserve wild species […]
Tag: vaccination
POLL: Badgers are on the verge of local extinction. Should the culling of badgers be permanently banned?
Trials are underway of a skin test and cattle vaccine which could finally end the controversial badger cull, Britain’s top vets announced today. A pilot has begun on a farm in Hertfordshire which wildlife campaigners hope will save tens of thousands of badgers every year. In a world first, field trials for a cattle jab […]
POLL: Should the UK Government abandon its failed, large-scale badger culling?
No new mass culls of badgers will be allowed in England after 2022, under government plans announced on Wednesday. Since 2013 more than 100,000 badgers have been killed in culls that are intended to reduce tuberculosis infections in cattle. About 30,000 cattle are slaughtered each year at a cost of £150m. The drive to eradicate […]
Vaccinations may be vital for saving Amur tigers from virus outbreaks (commentary)
While the world focuses on the development of new vaccines against COVID-19, biologists are building the case for using vaccines for the conservation of wildlife. Our own research on the impact of canine distemper virus (CDV) in the Russian Far East concludes that vaccination of Amur tigers is a potentially important strategy to avoid extinction […]
POLL: Should the badger cull in England be abandoned and replaced by vaccination?
Just one in 12 badgers found dead on roads has bovine tuberculosis, a Government-backed study has revealed – sparking calls to scrap the controversial cull. Researchers from Nottingham University collected and tested 610 “roadkill” badger carcasses, but found only 51 infected with the disease. The revelations came from a £497,000 study funded by the Department […]
Badger cull extended in England with more than 60,000 in line of fire
The government’s badger cull is being expanded to 11 new areas of England including parts of Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire so that more than 60,000 badgers can be killed. Conservation groups said the expansion was a betrayal of trust after the government this year pledged to phase out the badger cull, intended to reduce […]
An invisible enemy: the battle to save black-footed ferrets from the plague
Every year, from August to November, Travis Livieri becomes nocturnal. The field biologist goes out in his truck in Conata Basin, South Dakota, armed with a spotlight in search of one of the most endangered mammals in North America: the black-footed ferret. When the light catches the reflective green shine of the ferret’s eyes, he […]
The next great threat to Brazil’s golden lion tamarin: Yellow fever
In April 2018, workers with the Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado, a Brazilian NGO dedicated to the protection of the golden lion tamarin, found one of the endangered primates, apparently sick and unable to climb trees, lying on the forest floor in Aldeia, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Rio de Janeiro city. The following day, field […]