Unfortunately, all of the above is very, very true.
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Taronga Zoo Pak Boon the elephant has TB
- Thread starter Coquinguy
- Start date
Unfortunately, all of the above is very, very true.
Yes, very unfortunately so and it is a dangerous disease to that as it migrates inter species.
It remains curious though that for the human TB disease strain treatment and diagnosis are fairly straightforward (allthough long-lasting medication is required) and that in all other TB disease strains (M. bovis et al) we are damned with these often unreliable test results (which by giving negatives or positives really do not tell you anything beyond a single reading).
Yassa,
even though your statements are correct in theory,they may not prevail in practise.If we look at history and elephant breeding programmes.There were no TB tests in the past and zoo's in Europe and Nth America transfered as required.Treatment wasn't as available and elephants were euthanaised or died as a result.Even today elephants are transfered throughout Europe with limited testing and in essence the disease is circulating as we speak and I think that Taronga is qualified to deal with this issue and will follow current therapies and testing.It may be sometime before they are deemed TB free and this may be timely as there aren't enough places to cope with a future male population at present.I hope Taronga's herd survives this dilemma and continues to be a vital participant of the Australian elephant herd.
even though your statements are correct in theory,they may not prevail in practise.If we look at history and elephant breeding programmes.There were no TB tests in the past and zoo's in Europe and Nth America transfered as required.Treatment wasn't as available and elephants were euthanaised or died as a result.Even today elephants are transfered throughout Europe with limited testing and in essence the disease is circulating as we speak and I think that Taronga is qualified to deal with this issue and will follow current therapies and testing.It may be sometime before they are deemed TB free and this may be timely as there aren't enough places to cope with a future male population at present.I hope Taronga's herd survives this dilemma and continues to be a vital participant of the Australian elephant herd.
I have heard nothing much about this for a long time. All I have seen is this article about a Chimp now having the same strain. Why would the keepers not also catch it, spending a lot of time in close proximity to the elephants.
Fears for zookeepers after TB spreads to chimp
Fears for zookeepers after TB spreads to chimp