Low-coverage vaccination strategies for the conservation of endangered species

The Ethiopian wolf Canis simensis is a specialist carnivore found only in seven isolated mountain pockets in Ethiopia, where they prey on rodent communities. They live in family packs with an intricate social organization. Fewer than 500 individuals now survive following rabies outbreaks in 1992 and 2003 that severely depleted the population in the Bale Mountains region. Work carried out there as part of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme (http://www.ethiopianwolf.org) has included the development of a vaccination strategy that could be an important model for other conservation projects. The aim is to control the spread of disease through habitat corridors between subpopulations using only low vaccination coverage. This reduces the extent of rabies outbreaks, and should significantly enhance the population's long-term survival chances. Cover photograph by Martin Harvey (http://www.wildimagesonline.com).