Two young elephant bulls from Dierenpark Wildlands have been vaccinated against the herpes virus. The vaccine was developed by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University and previously worked successfully in adult elephants.
The bucket animal enclosure lost two elephants to Herpes last year. In November the 2-year-old elephant calf Nagarr died after an infection. Shortly thereafter, the virus struck at the 3 -year -old KA Yan.
Elephantsherpes is dangerous in young elephants, because their immune system is not yet fully developed. According to Wildlands, the disease ensures high mortality rates in elephants in that age category.
At Utrecht University, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine is conducting research into a vaccine for a number of years. A test with six adult elephants went as hoped; None of the animals suffered. As the next step, young elephants now also receive a vaccine with barely antibodies. In addition to Wildlands, this also happened with young elephants in Blijdorp Diergaarde.
With the vaccinated elephants, it is examined whether they make enough working antibodies. “If that is the case, in the future no more Asian elephants will have to die from this most dangerous variant of the elephant pair virus,” writes Wildlands.