Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Nearly half of the global population of critically endangered Saiga antelope has died within the last month, and the culprit is believed to be an unknown environmental catalyst which causes the creature’s gut bacterial to turn virulent.
As BBC News explained on Monday, the antelope deaths were first reported on May 10. The creatures expire just hours after first showing symptoms, including depression, diarrhea, and even frothing at the mouth. Since it is currently calving season for the Saiga antelopes, reports indicate that entire herds of females and their newborn offspring have been wiped out.
Richard Kock of the Royal Veterinary College in London told BBC News that the animal begins by experiencing respiratory problems, loss of appetite, and extreme depression. Experts describe the spreading ailment as a major setback to conservation efforts that have helped the populations rebound from lows of approximately 50,000 during the 1990s.
Bacterial disease was likely the cause of death
According to Reuters, an estimated 300,000 Saiga (representing roughly 90 percent of the global population) roamed the steppes of Kazakhstan as of May 11, when the first dead antelope was discovered. Since then, over 120,000 bodies have been found in three different locations in their usual habitat, agricultural officials have said.
Yerzhan Madiyev, deputy head of the agricultural ministry’s veterinary committee, told the press that he and his colleagues believe that the deaths are due to pasteurellosis, a bacterial disease that can infect humans, cattle, rabbits, cats, and dogs. This microbe occurs naturally in the upper respiratory tract, but when a creature’s immune system becomes compromised, it grows harmful.
In addition to pasteurellosis, BBC News reports that another bacteria, clostridia, was also found on the bodies of each of the dead antelopes studied. Both bacteria occur naturally in the animal’s respiratory and gut systems, indicating that something most have reduced their immunity. One potential culprit is climate, as a very cold winter followed by a wet spring may have caused the Saiga to become more vulnerable to the bacteria.
“I have worked in veterinary diseases all my career and I have never seen 100 percent mortality. We had a herd of 60,000 aggregated and they all died. That is extraordinary,” Kock explained to Nature. Koch said that he helped perform necropsies on 50 antelope, and that the cause of death was likely “a polymicrobial disease” resulting from the bacteria. “Epidemiologically, you cannot get a directly transmitted disease to kill a whole population in seven days,” he added.
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