Studying Diseases at the Wildlife-Livestock Interface in South Africa

SCIENTIFIC TITLE: Spatial epidemiology for wildlife health and conflict mitigation at the wildlife-livestock interface in a sub-Saharan savannah

START DATE: Spring 2025

PROJECTED DURATION: 2 years

SUMMARY: Researchers will study multiple disease dynamics in African buffalo in Kruger National Park as a step toward improved management.

THE PROBLEM:Infectious diseases in wildlife are a large problem in areas where wild animals and livestock meet. These diseases may spread from farm animals to wildlife, hurting wild populations. At the same time, diseases may spread from wild animals to farm animals, causing people to be less supportive of protecting wild species. Previous studies have looked at this type of disease transmission, but they’ve tended to focus on one disease at a time, leading to management strategies focused on only that one disease. These strategies often fall short with wildlife because wild animals often are infected with more than one disease, some of which can also affect humans and livestock. Wildlife in Kruger National Park (KNP), like African buffalo, carry many infections such as these. A more comprehensive approach to disease analysis could help with this type of management problem.

THE PROJECT: This study will use samples collected from African buffalo to test for a variety of infectious diseases. Using these test results and data about KNP’s landscape, the team will identify disease hotspots within the park and understand more about how the environment affects disease spread. They will also discover if there are any groups of diseases that occur together in the same places within the park. This work will help the team learn more about the health of one of Africa’s most well-known animals while also helping the researchers understand how diseases may spread between wildlife and livestock in sub-Saharan Africa. 

POTENTIAL IMPACT: These results will inform communities in and around KNP as to how to improve protection of both livestock and wildlife from disease transmission, which in turn could lead to greater acceptance of wildlife management strategies by stakeholders.