SURVIS: a fully-automated aerial baiting system for the distribution of vaccine baits for wildlife.

Abstract

Large-scale oral vaccination of wildlife against rabies using aerial bait distribution has been successfully used to control terrestrial wildlife rabies in Europe and North America. A technical milestone to large-scale oral rabies vaccination campaigns in Europe was the development of fully-automated, computer-supported and cost-efficient technology for aerial distribution of baits like the SURVIS -system. Each bait released is recorded by the control unit through a sensor, with the exact location, time and date of release and subsequently the collected data can be evaluated, e.g. in GIS programmes. Thus, bait delivery systems like SURVIS are an important management tool for flight services and the responsible authorities for the optimization and evaluation of oral vaccination campaigns of wildlife against rabies or the control of other relevant wildlife diseases targeted by oral baits.