Abstract
A survey on wild ruminants’ health status of any South African preserves was attempted, assessing body condition score (BCS) through tele-diagnosis. The wildlife BCS was linked to the presence of gastrointestinal parasites that should be recognized, counted and statistically evaluated. For this purpose, we examined 103 faecal samples of wild ruminants from 6 South African preserves. For practical reasons, the animals were divided into two macro-categories: small and large ruminants. The results obtained showed a prevalence of 78.1 and 15.6% in large ruminants for gastrointestinal strongyles (GIS) and coccidian, respectively, while small ruminants showed 92.3% due to GIS and 30.8% for coccidia. No statistically significant difference in the prevalence among the preserves was detected; on the other hand, a low value of BCS corresponds to a greater presence of parasites with statistics difference in the macro-categories (small ruminant x2=5.238; P=0.020; large ruminant x2= 15.215; P<0.001) and sex classes (male x2=5.409; P=0.020; female x2 =17.350; P<0.001). For these reasons, our results provide a practical feedback for the management preserves. The present paper is fully part of the limited experiences of telediagnosis in a conservation perspective. Based on the results obtained, we decided to organize a project that could limit and assess the risk factors in the management of these activities in the South African context. Key words: Wild ruminants, telediagnosis, parasites, body condition scores, South African preserves.
Highlights
In recent past, Veterinary Medicine has focused its interest on involving wild animals as single head fenced in captivity and clinically similar to domestic one, and as free-living populations
These are wild farms suitable for the conservation, including breeding of species of local wildlife valuable, from economic, touristic or endangered point of view. Their management is quite particular: wild ruminants are fenced on many hectares of land and continuously exchanged with other preserves. Considering that from this wild farm parasitological information are lacking and domestic ruminants are raised close to wild ones, we suggested transferring the clinical approach cited adapting them to wild ruminants by a visual system for scoring body condition
We have found four specific papers of this non-invasive method to define health status: two in Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus L., 1758) (Ramesh et al, 2011; Wijeyamohan et al, 2015) and two on wild ruminants, in particular Bassano et al (2003) on Ovis canadensis (Shaw, 1804) and Capra ibex (L., 1758) and Pfeifer (2015) Cervus elaphus (L., 1758)
Summary
Veterinary Medicine has focused its interest on involving wild animals as single head fenced in captivity and clinically similar to domestic one, and as free-living populations All these are meant to protect biodiversity and curtail the possible spread of pathogens, and zoonotic diseases. Health simplifying and adapting them to wild ruminants in game preserves of South Africa These are wild farms suitable for the conservation, including breeding of species of local wildlife valuable, from economic, touristic or endangered point of view. Their management is quite particular: wild ruminants are fenced on many hectares of land and continuously exchanged with other preserves. We have found four specific papers of this non-invasive method to define health status: two in Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus L., 1758) (Ramesh et al, 2011; Wijeyamohan et al, 2015) and two on wild ruminants, in particular Bassano et al (2003) on Ovis canadensis (Shaw, 1804) and Capra ibex (L., 1758) and Pfeifer (2015) Cervus elaphus (L., 1758)
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