A suspected outbreak of foot and mouth disease in a national park in India is killing gaur, wildlife officials say. The wild ox is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Earlier in 2002, it was cloned, as part of a programme to “preserve” endangered species.
“We have learnt of an ongoing outbreak, suspected to be FMD, affecting wildlife populations, especially gaur, in Nawegaon National Park in Maharashtra,” Anand Ramanthan of the Wildlife Trust of India told an infectious diseases mailing list. “Forest department sources have informed us that about 25 gaur have died in the past three months. Biological samples have been collected and sent to various laboratories for confirmation of FMD.”
Villages on the outskirts of the park have reported a recent outbreak of food and mouth disease in cattle, the Trust says. Cattle-transmitted diseases are the prime cause of death in free-ranging gaur.
The animals are native to the mountainous regions of southeast Asia and India. An estimated 10,000 remain in India, out of a total population of fewer than 30,000. The Nawegaon park is considered prime habitat for gaurs and tigers.
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Preventative measures
FMD is highly contagious, and is endemic in India. The Wildlife Trust of India says it fears many more gaurs may die unless the disease is immediately identified and preventative measures are taken.
“Surprisingly, gaur is the only hoofstock reported to be affected during this outbreak,” adds Ramanthan. “The national park is also a refuge for sambar, spotted deer, nilgai and a host of other ungulates, which apparently have not shown signs of the disease.”
In January, a team at Advanced Cell Technology in Massachusetts announced the birth, and death, of a gaur called Noah. It was the first clone of an endangered species created by injecting the DNA of one species into the egg of another, in this case a cow.
“His birth brightens the prospects that we can apply this technology to many species on the verge of extinction,” said ACT’s Philip Damiani at the time. But Noah died from a bacterial infection, claimed to be unrelated to the cloning process, within 48 hours of birth.
