On Monday 29 July an elephant was darted in the Skukuza part of the Kruger National Park to retrieve samples for lab testing as part of ongoing research linked to the death of an elephant in the park in 2016.
The elephant that died was discovered lying on the side of a road and after investigation vets discovered that the cause of death was an unusual case of human tuberculosis.
The Sowetan reported that Dr Peter Buss, head of veterinary services at SanParks said, ‘We found that the lungs were very badly affected. About 80% of its lungs were not functional. We took the necessary samples and took them to various laboratories. When the results came back, they confirmed that it was TB – but not bovine but human TB.
‘At this stage it is only one case. It is very difficult for us to predict what may or may not happen… Although we are looking for other cases, so far the evidence is suggesting that it is only one case. But we have to keep looking because we really don’t have the numbers to compare with statistical evidence.’
Buss also explained that tuberculosis is a new disease in Africa. ‘We don’t know how the animals will react to it. Elephant populations are now fragmented, therefore much more vulnerable to these kinds of disease. That is why it is important for us to get a feel as to what impact will the disease have on our population.’
There are about 20,000 elephants in the Kruger National Park and Dr Buss has put together a team of researchers that have darted 30 elephants since the incident to try and establish if any other pachyderms have contracted the human disease.
It is suspected that the elephant that died could have eaten a piece of food dropped by a person who was carrying the disease.
Image: Pixabay
