EU managed to eradicate rabies in West Balkan but still fails on Eastern EU border

[Jana]

Rabies is a dangerous zoonosis that can kill people, wild and domestic mammals. While Western Europe is rabies-free, fight continues red-hot in the East.

EU has dedicated considerable resources to eradicate rabies in all member states. With deadline of 2020. By applying large-scale oral vaccination of foxes/racoons. Here a map:

EDIT: I cant get pic to show itself

According to my recherge, the latest detected rabies case in West Balkan (that large green blob on map) was in 2020 in Bosnia. (if you know about some later case, please post it). Congrats! Not a small success if true.

However rabies is still occuring in the East along Ukraine border. Poland (1), Slovakia (1), and especially Romania (16 cases in first 3 months) report cases this year. They are both in wild and domestic animals living in or near Carpathian mountain range.

It´s pretty clear that current strategy of oral vaccination belt along EU border doesnt work there as intended. Probably because it´s too narrow strip. If vaccinated area wont cover whole Carpathian area in western Ukraine (whole Galicia plus maybe part of Volyn and Polesie), I cant see any improvement. It´s full of depopulated abandoned agricultural land and forests that work as huge migration corridor for wild mammals. (BTW Czech people increasingly spent their summer holidays there before the war, taking offroads and renting wooded cottages in the middle of nowhere, or renting huzul ponies and riding around).

Imagine future Europe with zero rabies. No compulsory rabies vaccination of dogs. No EU pet passports. No injections after a stray dog bites you. We are getting near to that feat.

Some sources - 1, 2, 3, 4,

 

[birdsandbats]

I'm shocked it's even possible to eradicate rabies. It's still a massive problem here in the US, and there really isn't any hope of it going away.

 

[Jana]

An update.

A map posted by WHO confirms it - whole West Balkan is now rabies free. That includes Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Greece and Bulgaria. Result of EU money well spent.

Link

On the other hand, situation with sylvatic rabies on Eastern border doesn´t improve. Poland (2 rabies cases detected so far this year), Hungary (14! cases) and Romania (11) are battling it by oral vaccines spread twice a year. Hungary even added a third ORV campaign in early 2024 to get it under control.

Source

Here are two slightly worrying facts about rabies in the EU:

1. Hungary detects rabies increasingly in golden jackals. This species has more dispersal potential than red foxes. If jackals become main vector one day, it would make control harder.

2. Nobody sounds enough alarm on (illegal) importation of dogs from North Africa and other countries where dog mediated rabies is widespread. Earlier this year, one from Morocco made it to France. It went by plane - a 4 months old border collie. It had no papers but customs just vawed it through. It died of rabies two weeks later.

Average Europeans´ve lost their fear of rabies. They tend to feed and pet strays they meet on exotic vacations. They bring pupies from abroad without second guessing potential dangers. It´s time to implement some education campaigns I would say.

 

[PossumRoach]

I don’t know how easy it is for strays to pass borders or for people to bring their dogs with them for holidays to the country I will be talking about but there’s is a huge stray problem in Turkey right now. The government basically never did anything to control strays until this point. With that comes an increase in rabies cases. What doesn’t help is that animal lovers in Turkey oppose any form of population control that consists of euthanasia. Therefore the EU should take Turkey into account whenever rabies is discussed.

 

[Jana]

I don’t know how easy it is for strays to pass borders or for people to bring their dogs with them for holidays to the country I will be talking about but there’s is a huge stray problem in Turkey right now. The government basically never did anything to control strays until this point. With that comes an increase in rabies cases. What doesn’t help is that animal lovers in Turkey oppose any form of population control that consists of euthanasia. Therefore the EU should take Turkey into account whenever rabies is discussed.

You are right that Turkey is an important country for rabies control efforts of the EU - not only it shares a land border, Turkey is also a candidate for EU membership.

The EU helps Turkey to fight rabies since at least 1980s. It provides both technical and financial help - in the same scope that West Balkan gets in this issue.

Turkey has both canine and wildlife rabies. To eradicate them you need two different aproches.

You fight wildlife rabies by distributing oral baits in landscape. You use 2-4 baits per km2 and you need to do it methodicaly twice a year. Here you can find for example that the EU donated over 13 million euro worth of oral baits to Turkey in years 2019-2022.
Link

You fight canine rabies by keeping vaccination rate over 70% in all your dogs (including strays) at all times. It´s much easier and cheaper to just get rid of street dogs instead (by using methods including euthanasia) than to try to keep enough of them vaccinated - especially when there is constant stream of newly abandoned pet dogs that land on street. However, you can actually eradicate rabies while your country still has rampant street dog population - Macedonia or Bosnia are prime examples.

However, existence of feral/street dogs is still a menace both to weak members of humane society (children and elderly) and to wildlife regardless of rabies scare. I think that negative impact on native wildlife is often underestimated and understudied.

Here is an interesting article about stray dogs and wildlife in Taiwan. It shows that cesation of dog euthanasia in shelters in taiwan led to explosive growth of number of stray dogs in urban wildlife reserve. Despite intensive TNR (trap-neuter-release) campaign. And it led to 96% decrease of muntjack population in the park. Other articles describe sharp increase in cases of dogs mauling pangolins. Or recent extinction of bengal cat in some parts of Taiwan where stray dogs became numerous.

I understand that euthanasia of stray dogs is a controversial issue. But the idea you can solve the issue by TNR alone is probably unrealistic in a country as large and chaotic as Turkey. But, that is something only locals can decide on.

 

[Staurcomb]

You are right that Turkey is an important country for rabies control efforts of the EU - not only it shares a land border, Turkey is also a candidate for EU membership.

The EU helps Turkey to fight rabies since at least 1980s. It provides both technical and financial help - in the same scope that West Balkan gets in this issue.

Turkey has both canine and wildlife rabies. To eradicate them you need two different aproches.

You fight wildlife rabies by distributing oral baits in landscape. You use 2-4 baits per km2 and you need to do it methodicaly twice a year. Here you can find for example that the EU donated over 13 million euro worth of oral baits to Turkey in years 2019-2022.
Link

You fight canine rabies by keeping vaccination rate over 70% in all your dogs (including strays) at all times. It´s much easier and cheaper to just get rid of street dogs instead (by using methods including euthanasia) than to try to keep enough of them vaccinated - especially when there is constant stream of newly abandoned pet dogs that land on street. However, you can actually eradicate rabies while your country still has rampant street dog population - Macedonia or Bosnia are prime examples.

However, existence of feral/street dogs is still a menace both to weak members of humane society (children and elderly) and to wildlife regardless of rabies scare. I think that negative impact on native wildlife is often underestimated and understudied.

Here is an interesting article about stray dogs and wildlife in Taiwan. It shows that cesation of dog euthanasia in shelters in taiwan led to explosive growth of number of stray dogs in urban wildlife reserve. Despite intensive TNR (trap-neuter-release) campaign. And it led to 96% decrease of muntjack population in the park. Other articles describe sharp increase in cases of dogs mauling pangolins. Or recent extinction of bengal cat in some parts of Taiwan where stray dogs became numerous.

I understand that euthanasia of stray dogs is a controversial issue. But the idea you can solve the issue by TNR alone is probably unrealistic in a country as large and chaotic as Turkey. But, that is something only locals can decide on.

Yes there is definitely an ecological impact that stray dogs have on the enviornment. carnivore populations have to be much smaller in relation to other populations.
There are 4 million stray dogs in Turkey! That number is definitely not good for the local wildlife.
Wildlife absolutely cannot have 4 million 10-100 pound carnivores roaming around along with all other wild carnivores in Turkey.
This number is only sustainable by post industrial agriculture and farming. aka people subsidizing the lives of those 4 million strays

 

[Jana]

Yes there is definitely an ecological impact that stray dogs have on the enviornment. carnivore populations have to be much smaller in relation to other populations.
There are 4 million stray dogs in Turkey! That number is definitely not good for the local wildlife.
Wildlife absolutely cannot have 4 million 10-100 pound carnivores roaming around along with all other wild carnivores in Turkey.
This number is only sustainable by post industrial agriculture and farming. aka people subsidizing the lives of those 4 million strays

One negative aspect of no-kill policy for street dogs in some countries is the alternative solution that local officials inevitably decide on - when complains of locals get too numerous they catch the more aggressive dogs, pack them on truck and release them in forests outside town/city.

I don´t know if this occures in Turkey. But I think I´ve read that groups of street dogs that get moved from towns to mountain forests in Macedonia and Albania is one of reasons why unique Balkan lynx is close to extinction (and probably will die out soon). Outcompeted or directly hunted by dog packs. It´s not only wild herbivores that get the short one. It´s also possible that part of the success of Iberian lynx reintroduction in Spain lies on relatively recent but visible decrease or dissappearance of stray dogs in that country.

 

[PossumRoach]

One negative aspect of no-kill policy for street dogs in some countries is the alternative solution that local officials inevitably decide on - when complains of locals get too numerous they catch the more aggressive dogs, pack them on truck and release them in forests outside town/city.

I don´t know if this occures in Turkey. But I think I´ve read that groups of street dogs that get moved from towns to mountain forests in Macedonia and Albania is one of reasons why unique Balkan lynx is close to extinction (and probably will die out soon). Outcompeted or directly hunted by dog packs. It´s not only wild herbivores that get the short one. It´s also possible that part of the success of Iberian lynx reintroduction in Spain lies on relatively recent but visible decrease or dissappearance of stray dogs in that country.

As far as I know, dogs do get abandoned to rural areas and people sometimes bring kibble to feed these dogs, not knowing that they are basically littering the area. I did witness 5-7 kangal-phenotype dogs chasing a single fox once on my way to school. It unfortunately wouldn’t be far fetched to reach to the conclusion that other carnivores such as jungle cats and marbled polecats face similar challenges as well .

 

[birdsandbats]

As far as I know, dogs do get abandoned to rural areas and people sometimes bring kibble to feed these dogs, not knowing that they are basically littering the area. I did witness 5-7 kangal-phenotype dogs chasing a single fox once on my way to school. It unfortunately wouldn’t be far fetched to reach to the conclusion that other carnivores such as jungle cats and marbled polecats face similar challenges as well .

Well today I learned Jungle Cats range that far west! I did not know they occurred all the way to Turkey and Egypt.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

1. Hungary detects rabies increasingly in golden jackals. This species has more dispersal potential than red foxes. If jackals become main vector one day, it would make control harder.

Given the general expansion of the species into central and western Europe, this is an issue with the potential to get significantly more problematic....

 

[Jurek7]

Dark side of eradication of rabies and presence of free-roaming dogs are large decreases and local extinctions of many smaller mammals, ground nesting birds and herps in Europe. Formerly common species like brown hare, partridge species, grouse species, lapwings and other waders are wiped out by exploding populations of red foxes and dogs. This is on top of the former decreases due to the agricultural intensification.

Recently in Poland, local organizations found that predator-proof fencing or raising eggs in human care is the only way to reverse local decline of lapwings, curlew and other formerly common waders.

Concerning free-roaming dogs and cats. A recent review found, that of numerous trap, neuter and release programs of cats worldwide, only 1 managed to stop increase of numbers of cats, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Dogs and cats breed sufficiently fast, that such programs would have to have unrealistically high cost, duration and numbers of cats trapped to result in a decline of numbers of cats. They simply don't work.

So rabies eradication is probably important commercially, but from the conservation point of view is not good at all. Human jabs against rabies are no longer painful. And pet passports will stay because of other diseases and a general love of bureaucracy to grow. Rabies will also stay, because it lives in the number of other wild mammals, including bats, and will forever keep jumping to domestic animals with low frequency.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Rabies will also stay, because it lives in the number of other wild mammals, including bats, and will forever keep jumping to domestic animals with low frequency.

To be precise, European bat species don't carry the rabies virus itself - they carry a number of different viruses with nigh-identical (and equally lethal) symptoms in humans for which the rabies vaccine is also effective. However, these viruses seem to be far less capable of being transmitted to terrestrial mammals than is the case for rabies - barring bat-human transmissions, there have only been six or seven recorded cases of *any* transmission of a non-rabies lyssavirus between bats and mammals in Europe. As such I would tend to suggest your quoted hypothesis is built on faulty assumptions.

Moreover, I think that your argument that the eradication of rabies is the primary cause for the wider loss of mammal and bird diversity in Western Europe, and that it is a net negative for conservation reasons, is extremely flawed

 

[Jana]

Dark side of eradication ...

Dog rabies spilled into foxes in Europe only in 1940s. It happened in what is now Baltics and then spread like wildfire (30-60 km per year) over most of Europe including the West but also through Russia into Asia. Before 1940, foxes were rabies free here. It was intensive hunting that kept fox population supressed.

I agree that we can´t eradicate Lyssavirus in bats (yet). But why to lose sleep over a theoretical freak incident where bat rabies would get new vector. We should focus on current problems and make whole Europe free of rabies in both dogs and terrestrial mammals. (and strive to make whole Europe free of stray dogs and cats too)

Waders are declining because of intensification of agricultural practices that led to landscape degradation (my country lost 99% of all wetlands in last 150 years) and collaps of insect biomass. Predation by foxes or birds of pray is just last blow of grace. Predation control has its place in certain situations when you try to save last few individuals. But waders co-evolved with red foxes for millenia (and stray dogs dont exist in Poland anymore) thus you bark on wrong tree here.

I fully agree with you that TNR in feral animals can function only in rare cases in real life - when you deal with a clearly defined population (an island, cat colony on a single property etc.) that has no recruitment from outside and very close to 100% coverage by the TNR program. You need secured long-term financing and very methodical way of implementing the program. Most dog and cat feral populations dont fall within this definition thus TNR programs are one failure after another.

Campains of western animal rights activists for TNR programs in 3rd world countries are lying through their teeth when they claim Western Europe solved feral dog issue in this way. Spay/neuter for pet animals was still cost prohibitive for lower society strata I would say till 1980s (or early 2000s if we take my country). Yet Netherlands, Germany or Czechia had no longer street dogs by then. It was methodical catching (and euthanising) by town wardens teamed with shooting by hunters that kept streets and countryside clean. "Knackers" was well established profession since late Middle Ages.

Spay/neuter policy however works wonders if it´s applied en-masse to OWNED populations. It greatly reduces numbers of dogs/cats that get dumped on street - the US is best example.

And honestly, what about your disregard for potential human rabies victims.

 

[Jurek7]

I think that your argument that the eradication of rabies is the primary cause for the wider loss of mammal and bird diversity in Western Europe

I think this is only you making a straw man argument.

In Central Europe currently red foxes, martens, introduced mink, raccoon and raccoon dogs are several times more abundant than 30 years ago. And were identified as the major cause of loss of a number of small and medium-sized animals: brown hares, capercaillie, black grouse, waders and nests of European pond turtles. Including in protected areas, and where expensive conservation programs aimed at habitat protection failed because of the predation by mammal carnivores. Interestingly, predation by birds of prey, which are diurnal and much more visible, is not so important.

While rabies will be fought for commercial reasons, apparently even the rabies virus has its role in nature.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

I think this is only you making a straw man argument.

Or not.

To directly quote you:

Dark side of eradication of rabies and presence of free-roaming dogs are large decreases and local extinctions of many smaller mammals, ground nesting birds and herps in Europe. Formerly common species like brown hare, partridge species, grouse species, lapwings and other waders are wiped out by exploding populations of red foxes and dogs.......So rabies eradication is probably important commercially, but from the conservation point of view is not good at all.

You argued both here and in your subsequent post that the eradication of rabies was responsible for an increase in the population of red foxes and feral dogs (in both posts) and other carnivore species (in your second post), and then argued that this increase in population was the primary cause of population decreases within smaller mammals, ground-nesting birds and herps.

In other words, you repeated your claims within the exact same post where you accused me of making a straw-man argument by noting the fact you had made these claims and also initially (before editing your post) made the bizarre claim that I only disputed your claims because I like mustelids and other small carnivores!