Disease and fertility control in wildlife and feral animal populations: options for vaccine delivery using vectors

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 393 ◽  
Author(s):  
DB Boyle
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Material ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Fertility Control ◽  
Vaccine Antigen ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Feral Animals ◽  
Feral Animal

A wide variety of vertebrates have been introduced into Australia during the 200 years of European settlement. Many have become pests causing significant environmental damage and having the potential to act as reservoirs of infectious diseases. Control of vertebrate pest species by fertility control is attractive on animal welfare grounds. Should exotic animal diseases become established in any of these feral animal populations vaccination would be an essential element in the control or eradication of disease. The only experience to date with vaccination of wildlife or feral animals has been the successful control of rabies in foxes in Europe by means of a live, attenuated rabies vaccine and a vaccinia-rabies recombinant vaccine. The feasibility of vaccination for disease control or fertility control in other vertebrate pests will depend on the development and evaluation of several vaccine vector strategies. The choice of vector, based on live viruses or bacteria, naked DNA coding for vaccine antigen or virus-like particles encapsidating genetic material coding for vaccine antigen, will depend on optimization of vector delivery strategies and immunogenicity of the vaccine antigen. Past experience from the vaccination of foxes against rabies suggests that rates of uptake of the vaccine bait and immunogenicity of the vaccine will be crucial factors in determining the success of other vaccines controlling disease or fertility.

Virus-vectored immunocontraception for control of wild rabbits: identification of target antigens and construction of recombinant viruses

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 631 ◽  
Author(s):  
MK Holland ◽  
RJ Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Control Strategies ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Fertility Control ◽  
Myxoma Virus ◽  
Wild Rabbit ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Gene Encoding ◽  
Recombinant Viruses ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Control Virus

The need to control animal populations arises in many situations in the world from a variety of motives. Present control strategies are almost universally based on lethal procedures. Increasingly, there is dissatisfaction with such approaches from many different perspectives. In response to these concerns, the concept of controlling populations of pest species through control of their fertility has been mooted. Successful examples of this approach exist in cases of small, discrete pest populations but application of this to a widely distributed species over a broad geographical area has not yet been achieved. In this article, we report on a new approach to fertility control, virus-vectored immunocontraception, and discuss its applicability to control of wild rabbit populations. Particular emphasis is placed on the strategy for selection of a target molecule capable of inducing an immunocontraceptive response and on how the gene encoding such a molecule might be engineered into the myxoma virus for distribution into the population. The fact that the procedures for antigen identification and the viral engineering methods used are, to varying extents, generic means that the broad principles of this approach are applicable in other species.

scholarly journals Limited Dispersal, Deleterious Mutations and the Evolution of Sex

Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
pp. 1053-1060
Author(s):  
Joel R Peck
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Sexual Reproduction ◽  
Genetic Locus ◽  
Genetic Material ◽  
Plant Population ◽  
Deleterious Mutations ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Limited Dispersal ◽  
Hermaphroditic Plant

Abstract This study presents a mathematical model that allows for some offspring to be dispersed at random, while others stay close to their mothers. A single genetic locus is assumed to control fertility, and this locus is subject to the occurrence of deleterious mutations. It is shown that, at equilibrium, the frequency of deleterious mutations in the population is inversely related to the rate of dispersal. This is because dispersal of offspring leads to enhanced competition among adults. The results also show that sexual reproduction can lead to a decrease in the equilibrium frequency of deleterious mutations. The reason for this relationship is that sex involves the dispersal of genetic material, and thus, like the dispersal of offspring, sex enhances competition among adults. The model is described using the example of a hermaphroditic plant population. However, the results should apply to animal populations as well.

Effects on non-target animal populations of a rabbit trail-baiting campaign with 1080 poison

1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 315 ◽  
Author(s):  
JC Mcilroy ◽  
EJ Gifford
Keyword(s):  
Vulpes Vulpes ◽  
Oryctolagus Cuniculus ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Target Animal ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Exotic Pest

Populations of non-target birds and mammals on a semi-cleared grazing property near Braidwood, New South Wales, did not appear to be affected by a trail-baiting campaign against rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus, using pellet bait and 1080 poison. Rabbit numbers were reduced by about 90% and those of the fox, Vulpes vulpes, another exotic pest, by about 75%. Populations of both pest species began recovering soon after the campaign, indicating the need for continued control measures.

scholarly journals Urine as a high-quality source of host genomic DNA from wild populations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew T. Ozga ◽  
Timothy H. Webster ◽  
Ian C. Gilby ◽  
Melissa A. Wilson ◽  
Rebecca S. Nockerts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Material ◽  
Population History ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Dental Calculus ◽  
Wild Populations ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Allelic Dropout ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Animal Populations

AbstractThe ability to generate genomic data from wild animal populations has the potential to give unprecedented insight into the population history and dynamics of species in their natural habitats. However, in the case of many species, it is impossible legally, ethically, or logistically to obtain tissues samples of high-quality necessary for genomic analyses. In this study we evaluate the success of multiple sources of genetic material (feces, urine, dentin, and dental calculus) and several capture methods (shotgun, whole-genome, exome) in generating genome-scale data in wild eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) from Gombe National Park, Tanzania. We found that urine harbors significantly more host DNA than other sources, leading to broader and deeper coverage across the genome. Urine also exhibited a lower rate of allelic dropout. We found exome sequencing to be far more successful than both shotgun sequencing and whole-genome capture at generating usable data from low-quality samples such as feces and dental calculus. These results highlight urine as a promising and untapped source of DNA that can be noninvasively collected from wild populations of many species.

Challenging the concept of Aboriginal mosaic fire practices in the Lake Eyre Basin

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 623 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. G. Kimber ◽  
M. H. Friedel
Keyword(s):  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Fire Hazard ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Desert Region ◽  
Fuel Loads ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Natural Landscapes ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
Feral Animals ◽  
Simpson Desert

Mosaic burning is the deliberate creation of a mosaic of patches representing different fire histories. It is often recommended for management of Australia’s natural landscapes, on the assumption that it enhances biodiversity and reduces fire hazard through increased spatial and temporal diversity of fuel loads and species composition. It is also suggested that such fire practices were used throughout Australia by traditionally living Aboriginal people. Although the creation of a patchwork of different fire histories may be an effective management tool in modern land management, the evidence for universal mosaic burning before European settlement deserves scrutiny. The records of explorers, early settlers and anthropologists relating to a large portion of the Lake Eyre Basin, particularly the Channel country and the Simpson Desert region, were examined. It is concluded that extensive gaps in the records of smokes and large fires are important and meaningful, and do not represent a failure to record fires. The case for universal mosaic burning in the region is not supported by the evidence although mosaic burning did occur in specific circumstances. Fire practices were shaped by complex and interacting factors including the vegetation and terrain type, for example the occurrence of spinifex-dominated sandhills or stony deserts; seasonal conditions and the presence or not of adequate fuel loads; how readily Aboriginal people could access country and their reasons for using or not using fire; the stocking of the pastoral country and spread of feral animals; and government policies about fire.

The genetic diversity and distinctiveness of the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby Petrogale xanthopus (Gray, 1854) in New South Wales

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa C. Pope ◽  
Andy Sharp ◽  
Craig Moritz
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Threatened Species ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Habitat Disturbance ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Feral Animals ◽  
Species Being

Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies (YFRW) Petrogale xanthopus have declined in numbers since European settlement from past hunting for skins, habitat disturbance and predation and competition with feral animals (Gordon et al. 1978, 1993; Copley 1983; Henzell 1990). This has led to the species being classed as potentially vulnerable to extinction in Australia (Kennedy 1992), and endangered in New South Wales (Schedule 1, Threatened Species Conservation Act, 1995).

Neither human nor natural: ethics and feral animals

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Singer
Keyword(s):  
Fertility Control ◽  
The Other ◽  
Specific Method ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Ethical Approaches ◽  
Feral Animals ◽  
Sentient Beings ◽  
The Given ◽  
Ethical Basis

There are three major ethical approaches to issues affecting nonhuman animals and the natural environment: an anthropocentric ethic, an ethic of concern for all sentient beings, and a biocentric approach. The ethic of concern for all sentient beings is the most defensible basis for resolving conflicts between the interests of humans and wild animals. There is no ethical basis for discounting the suffering of an animal simply because that being is a member of a different species. On the other hand, it is certainly true that human and nonhuman animals differ in their capacities, and this does make a difference to the ethics of what we may do to them, including rendering them infertile. Since ethics is not a matter of adhering to absolute rules, but rather of doing what will have best consequences, given the constraints under which we act, the ethics of using a specific method of fertility control for feral animals will depend on what other methods are being used, or will be used, if the given method is not available. It will also depend on the consequences of not using any method of controlling the population of the animals.

Managing problem wildlife in the ‘Old World’: a veterinary perspective

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Artois
Keyword(s):  
Wildlife Management ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Fertility Control ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Game Species ◽  
Domestic Species ◽  
Stray Dog ◽  
Methods Of Control

This paper focuses on mammalian pest species mainly in Europe and Africa and on implications for animal health, human safety, wildlife management and animal welfare. Three examples of problem species are presented: the wild boar (Sus scrofa), the stray dog (Canis familiaris) and the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Several species are reservoirs or vectors of transmissible diseases of man and of economically valuable domestic species. The control of these and other infections and the limitation of the nuisance or damage caused by these pest species involves lethal or non-lethal methods which are briefly reviewed. Some control measures require veterinary expertise, and veterinary involvement in managing problem species is likely to increase. With regard to fertility control, methods are considered which will allow an appropriate choice of the best technique for the management of problem animals in various habitats. For desirable native species, traditional methods of control, especially hunting in the case of game species, is preferable to contraception. For exotic or feral species, control of fertility seems to be a worthwhile option.

Discussion session: Prospects and challenges

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 179
Keyword(s):  
Wildlife Management ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Fertility Control ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Game Species ◽  
Domestic Species ◽  
Stray Dog ◽  
Methods Of Control

This paper focuses on mammalian pest species mainly in Europe and Africa and on implications for animal health, human safety, wildlife management and animal welfare. Three examples of problem species are presented: the wild boar (Sus scrofa), the stray dog (Canis familiaris) and the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Several species are reservoirs or vectors of transmissible diseases of man and of economically valuable domestic species. The control of these and other infections and the limitation of the nuisance or damage caused by these pest species involves lethal or non-lethal methods which are briefly reviewed. Some control measures require veterinary expertise, and veterinary involvement in managing problem species is likely to increase. With regard to fertility control, methods are considered which will allow an appropriate choice of the best technique for the management of problem animals in various habitats. For desirable native species, traditional methods of control, especially hunting in the case of game species, is preferable to contraception. For exotic or feral species, control of fertility seems to be a worthwhile option.

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