Study on Gastrointestinal Parasitism of Wild Animals in Captivity at the Zoological Garden of Haramaya University, Ethiopia

Captivity of wild animals and restriction of their movement can lead to stress, resulting in suppressed immune response and reduced disease resistance ability. Wild animals in zoological gardens can predominately affected by various gastro-intestinal parasites. This study was therefore, conducted to determine occurrence, identify types and assess seasonal variation of gastrointestinal parasites in captive animals at the Zoological garden of Haramaya University. The study involved a retrospective investigation of zoo records and fecal examinations. Twenty two fecal samples were collected in December, 2013 from all the animals in the garden and examined using concentration and fecal culture techniques. Sampling was repeated after four months in April, 2014 to assess seasonal variations of the parasites. The result from the retrospective study showed death of 21 animals in the last five years. Fecal examination confirmed presence of gastrointestinal parasites with an overall mean prevalence rate of 73.8%. A total of 9 parasite taxa were identified of which 6 (66.67%) and 4 (33.33%) were helminths and protozoa respectively. No Cestode and Trematode species were recovered. Trichuris spp., Toxocara spp., Strongyloides spp., Toxascaris leonine, Passalurus ambiguous and Ascaridia spp. were the helminth parasites observed in the garden. Entamoeba spp., Isospora spp. and Eimeria spp. were the protozoan parasites encountered. No remarkable seasonal variation in parasitic infection was noticed in the garden. The study revealed occurrence of gastrointestinal parasites in the zoological garden, most of which are zoonotic and hence future studies are needed to determine risks of cross-transmission.

Pattern of injuries due to wild animal attack among patients presenting to the emergency department:A retrospective observational study

Purpose:The human-wildlife conflicts(HWCs)causing nuisances and injuries are becoming a growing public health concern over recent years worldwide.We aimed to study the demographic profile,mode of injury,pattern of injury,and outcome of wild animal attack victims presented to the emergency department.Methods:This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in the emergency department of a tertiary-care hospital in Eastern India.Data were retrieved from the medical records from May 2017 to May 2021.Patients of all ages and genders attacked by wild animals and secondary injuries were included in this study.Patients with incomplete data,injuries due to the attack of stray and domestic animals and trauma due to other causes were excluded.Demographic profile,mode of injury,the pattern of injury,injury severity score(ISS),radiological pattern,and outcome were recorded.Statistical analysis with R(version 3.6.1.)was conducted.Results:A total of 411 wild animal attack victims were studied,of which 374(90.9%)were snakebite injuries and 37(9.1%)were wild mammalian(WM)attack injuries.The mean age of WM attack victims was 46 years,and the male-to-female ratio was 4:1.Elephant attack injury(40.5%)was the most common WM attack injury reported.Most WM attacks(43.2%)occurred between 4:00 a.m.to 8:00 a.m.The median ISS was 18.5(13-28),where 54.2%of patients had polytrauma(ISS>15).Elephant attack was associated with a higher ISS,but the difference was not significant compared to other animal types(p=0.2).Blunt trauma was common pattern of injury in the elephant attack injury cases.Lacerations and soft tissue injuries were common patterns in other animal attacks.Among snakebites,neurotoxic was the most common type(55.4%),and lower extremity was the most common site involved.Conclusion:The young male population is the major victim of HWCs;and elephant is the most common animal involved.There is a need to design scientifically sound preventive strategies for HWCs and to strengthen the preparedness in health establishments to manage victims effectively.

Towards informed metrics for examining the role of human-induced animal responses in tag studies on wild animals

Two prime issues can detrimentally affect animals that have been equipped with tags:(i)the effect of the cap-ture and restraint process;and(ii)the effect of the tag itself.This work examines some of the issues surround-ing quantification of tag effects on wild animals for both restrained and free-living animals.A new method to quantify stress effects based on monitoring ventilation rates in relation to activity is suggested for restrained an-imals which may help improve the practice of handling animals.It is also suggested that various metrics,many derived from accelerometers,can be examined in tagged wild animals to examine the change in behaviors over time with a view to having a better understanding of welfare issues,assuring the quality of recorded data and in-forming best practice.

Young Woman Tames Wild Animals

ON Shanghai’s acrobatic stage, the audience held its breath while it watched a lion put its front paws on the shoulders of a dainty and beautiful young woman and licked her face with its red tongue. The girl was perfectly calm, even smiling. This legendary woman is Zhang Xiuhong, a lion-tamer in the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe. I Fear the Lion When she was 11, Zhang Xiuhong joined the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe Soon afterward, she was assigned to work as a lion-tamer. The first animal she tamed was a lion cub. From

Effect of epidemic diseases on wild animal conservation

Under the background of global species extinction,the impact of epidemic diseases on wild animal protection is increasingly prominent.Here,we review and synthesize the literature on this topic,and discuss the relationship between diseases and biodiversity.Diseases usually reduce species diversity by decreasing or extinction of species populations,but also accelerate species evolution and promote species diversity.At the same time,species diversity can regulate disease outbreaks through dilution or amplification effects.The synergistic effect of human activities and global change is emphasized,which further aggravates the complex relationship between biodiversity and diseases.Finally,we emphasize the importance of active surveillance of wild animal diseases,which can protect wild animals from potential diseases,maintain population size and genetic variation,and reduce the damage of diseases to the balance of the whole ecosystem and human health.Therefore,we suggest that a background survey of wild animal populations and their pathogens should be carried out to assess the impact of potential outbreaks on the population or species level.The mechanism of dilution and amplification effect between species diversity and diseases of wild animals should be further studied to provide a theoretical basis and technical support for human intervention measures to change biodiversity.Most importantly,we should closely combine the protection of wild animals with the establishment of an active surveillance,prevention,and control system for wild animal epidemics,in an effort to achieve a win-win situation between wild animal protection and disease control.

A rare case of giant panda cancer:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma(PDAC)is a highly malignant cancer of the digestive system common among humans.However,it is rarely reported in wild animals.In 2018,a giant panda died in the Beijing Zoo.During subsequent histological observation of the pancreas,it was discovered that the glandular epithelial cells had lost the pancreatic acinar structure,tubular areas with obvious structure in the pancreas,and the ductal epithelium was substituted by high columnar mucus cells.Masson staining showed that there were several fibrous tissue proliferative reactions around the ductal adenocarcinoma and immunohistochemical staining revealed that CK7 and CK19 were positively expressed in the pancreatic tissue.Therefore,the pathological diagnosis indicated that the panda had PDAC.In this paper,the panda’s living conditions and pathological diagnosis results are examined,with the aim of providing a reference point for the future diagnosis of wild animal tumors.

Feral Cats: Parasitic Reservoirs in Our Zoos?

Up until the recent past, zoos served limited function, primarily existing for entertainment value. Today’s zoos, however, are serving many roles, chief among them: species conservation of captive animals. The biggest zoo in Brazil, S?o Paulo Zoological Park Foundation, has among its 2000 animals and many species of wild cats. The presence of domestic cats living freely in zoos is common and can be a source of spreading disease. The aim of this study was to verify the variety and prevalence of parasites found in the feces of felids (feral and wild) living in the S?o Paulo Zoo. The results of this parasitological analysis have been obtained from the laboratory of clinical analysis and correspond to the 4-year period beginning January/2009 and ending December/2012. Eight species of parasites were identified in the feces of captive wild cats and three in the feces of feral cats. For those captives, Toxocara cati (7.95%) had the highest prevalence, followed by Toxascaris leonina (7.58%), Isospora sp. (2.03%), Hymenolepis nana (0.92%), Eimeria sp., Giardia sp. and Blastocystis sp. (0.37% each) and Ascaris sp. (0.18%). Among the feral cats, we found Toxocara cati (59.26%), Giardia sp. (22.22%) and Isospora sp. (11.11%). For the captive group, we also distinguished natives from exotic species, finding native species to be more frequently parasitized than the exotic ones. Key to our findings, though, was the fact that a few parasite species were found among all groups of felids, specifically (Toxocara cati, Giardia sp. and Isospora sp). Further research is needed, however, to confirm that transmission of these parasites is occurring between and among these groups.

Recognition of big mammal species in airborne thermal imaging based on YOLO V5 algorithm

Unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)technology,artificial intelligence,and the relevant hardware can be used for monitoring wild animals.However,existing methods have several limitations.Therefore,this study explored the monitoring and protection of Amur tigers and their main prey species using images from UAVs by optimizing the algorithm models with respect to accuracy,model size,recognition speed,and elimination of environmental inter-ference.Thermal imaging data were collected from 2000 pictures with a thermal imaging lens on a DJI M300RTK UAV at the Hanma National Nature Reserve in the Greater Khingan Mountains in Inner Mongolia,Wangqing National Nature Reserve in Jilin Province,and Siberian Tiger Park in Heilongjiang Province.The YOLO V5s al-gorithm was applied to recognize the animals in the pictures.The accuracy rate was 94.1%,and the size of the model weight(total weight of each model layer trained with the training set)was 14.8 MB.The authors improved the structures and parameters of the YOLO V5s algorithm.As a result,the recognition accuracy rate became 96%,and the model weight was 9.3 MB.The accuracy rate increased by 1.9%,the model weight decreased by 37.2%from 14.8 MB to 9.3 MB,and the recognition time of a single picture was shortened by 34.4%from 0.032 to 0.021 s.This not only increases the recognition accuracy but also effectively lowers the hardware requirements that the algorithm relies on,which provides a lightweight fast recognition method for UAV-based edge computing and online investigation of wild animals.

Unmanned aerial vehicles:potential tools for use in zoonosis control

Unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)have become useful tools to extend human abilities and capacities.Currently UAVs are being used for the surveillance of environmental factors related to the transmission of infectious diseases.They have also been used for delivering therapeutic drugs and life-saving supplies to patients or isolated persons in extreme conditions.There have been very few applications of UAVs for disease surveillance,control and prevention to date.However,we foresee many uses for these machines in the fight against zoonotic disease.The control of zoonoses has been a big challenge as these diseases are naturally maintained in animal populations.Among 868 reported zoonoses,echinococcosis(hydatid disease)is one of the most severe public health problems and listed as one of 17 neglected tropical diseases targeted for control by the World Health Organization.Infected dogs(domestic or stray)play the most important role as definitive hosts in maintaining the transmission of echinococcosis.However,the actual contribution of wild canines to transmission has received little attention as yet,but should certainly not be ignored.This paper summarizes the history of development and application of UAVs,with an emphasis on their potential use for zoonosis control.As an example,we outline a pilot trial of echinococcosis control in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region,in which UAVs were used to deliver baits with praziquantel for wildlife deworming.The data suggested that this is a cost-effective and efficient approach to the control of zoonotic diseases transmitted among wild animal populations.