Vets to study virus turning tigers into maneaters

Kounteya Sinha, TNN | Jun 12, 2013

LONDON: Britain's Wildlife Vets International (WVI) plans to study whether a virus common among Indian dogs was infecting tigers of the Sunderbans and turning them into maneaters. The study would be part of WVI's first comprehensive global tiger disease surveillance programme, which would start with the dwindling Sumatran tiger population.

The is concerned that big cats were facing the new threat in form of canine distemper virus (CDV), an emerging pathogen threatening tigers worldwide including those in the Sunderbans. The virus makes big cats less afraid of humans and increases the chance of human-tiger conflict leaving them vulnerable to poaching.

A large number of feral dogs and cats live in and around villages bordering the Sunderbans. The virus is common among them and tigers straying into villages and preying on them are at risk. WVI co-founder John Lewis said they need to find out how these cats are catching the virus, identify how and where they come into contact with domestic dogs, which are the most likely virus source, and determine how to tackle the problem. "Otherwise we could lose even more of our vulnerable big cats.''

The WVI wants to test whether CDV is causing healthy tigers in Bangladesh Sunderbans to attack humans and walk unperturbed into villages. At least three Amur (Siberian) tigers, the world's largest big cat, have died in recent years after contracting canine distemper.

Studies of both the endangered Amur tiger and the critically endangered Amur leopard, only 40 of which are left in the wild, confirm that many more have been exposed to the virus.

In the Serengeti National Park, a CDV epidemic in 1994 caused the death of approximately 30% of the lion population as well as numerous African wild dogs, leopards, hyaenas and bat-eared foxes. This was the first time CDV was detected in wild lions.

Experts say there was an urgent need to assess the disease risks to tigers in the Sundarbans and to implement a prevention programme to protect them.

Recently, the Bangladesh Forest Department identified this disease threat and said it requires reduction in the immediate future. Fund-raising has started for WVI's surveillance programme to combat CDV. WVI is now asking for donations to carry out the programme in the Sunderbans.

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