Shishangaan Male Lions

[Rabubi]

(10-01-2024, 03:32 PM)Spalea Wrote: Yes Casper looks in good shape, but...

"  1 oct. 2024
Good and bad news: The veterinarians have tested the Shishangaan Lion Brothers for tuberculosis (TB), called bovine TB (BTB).
Good news: Casper and Footloose tested negative - They are clean!
Bad news: Mfowethu and Casanova have tested positive including three Lionesses of the Satara Lion Pride.

As many as half the lions in the southern regions of the Kruger National Park (KNP) may be infected with a form of animal tuberculosis (TB), called bovine TB (BTB), according to new research by Stellenbosch University's (SU) Animal TB Research group.
Read more: https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/n.... "

In the middle of the 90s the Serengeti lions were infected by a canine illness. Now it is a bovine tuberculosis. How can it be possible ? There are no livestock herds crossing the Kruger park (contrary to the Serengeti park),  aren't they ? I don't understand

According to this article on Tuberculosis (both human and bovine: https://www0.sun.ac.za/researchforimpact...nd-humans/) it is believed that the disease was introduced in the 19th Century by colonial settlers via their infected cattle. The disease was found in KNP buffalo in the early 1990s so it makes sense that there was definitely some cattle to buffalo transmission prior to Kruger being consolidated into what it is today.

These TB tests by the Kruger vets might also explain why some of the Mayambula males were branded, unless that was for a different research/management reason. Reply