AGRICULTURAL NEWS - The decimation of Namibia’s kudu population due to rabies, especially on game-fenced farms, poses a severe and long-term threat to the country’s game industry.
This was according to Dr Ulf Tubbesing, a wildlife vet in Namibia, who said that chances were good that the disease had also spread to South Africa and Botswana since the first outbreak in the 1970s.
Kudu bulls were one of the most sought-after and slowest-maturing trophy hunting animals in Namibia, with bulls’ horns only reaching trophy length at eight years of age. Thus, the loss of these animals had a very negative effect on the game industry.
“[Rabies] usually spreads rapidly, wiping out the entire affected group,” he said.
