ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS - The origin of the rabies outbreak in Cape fur seals, first detected in June last year, has been traced back to the black-backed jackals in Namibia.
This is according to an outbreak update report issued by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development on 31 October 2024.
While there is no way to know for sure how patient zero got infected, the Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s head of communication, Mary James, said the most likely explanation was that a rabid jackal had bitten a seal somewhere on the Namibian coast. From there, seal-to-seal transmission likely took place.
“Jackals are known to predate on seal pups along the Namibian cost, and researchers have taken photographs and videos of them biting seals, as well as getting in skirmishes with adult seals protecting their young,” she said.
The outbreak, thus far limited to the Northern and Western Cape coastlines, has since been declared endemic in this seal population, which means it is steadily circulating among them at a relatively predictable and stable rate.
A black-backed jackal. Photo: Pexels/Magda Shyam
Seal rabies outbreak may be here to stay
The June 2024 outbreak marked the first time rabies had been recorded in South African Cape fur seals.
According to the report, the events leading up to this initial detection started on 20 May 2024, when a three-year-old dog in Cape Town was euthanised after showing signs of severe aggression two weeks after being bitten by a Cape fur seal while being walked on the beach by his owner.
At the end of October last year, positive rabies cases in Cape fur seals in the Western Cape stood at 29, with seven confirmed at various locations along the Garden Route. The Northern Cape count stood at 15.
On the likelihood of the virus spreading further up the coast to the Eastern Cape and KZN, James explained the easternmost colony, a small one in Algoa Bay called Black Rocks, seems to be unaffected so far. Whether this is due to the small size of the colony or the distance from the others, the fact remains that seals can easily travel very long distances, so the risk of them transmitting rabies wherever they go remains.
With eradication of the virus in large wildlife populations being very difficult and using oral vaccines not being a feasible option for seals (because they don’t normally scavenge for food), James said rabies in seals is just something we’ll have to live with for the time being.
“For now, we have to manage the effects of rabies as best we can while being prepared to see cases of rabies in seals for the foreseeable future.”
Cape fur seals on a rock in Cape Town. Photo: Pexels
Dogs passed rabies to jackals
The origin of rabies in black-backed jackals is quite a long story, but in a nutshell, James said the canine biotype they get infected with was first introduced into South Africa around the 1940s by infected domestic dogs moving south through the continent.
“Black-backed jackals were first infected by domestic dogs as a result of this, and the rabies virus established itself in the jackal population so that it is now maintained in their population by being spread from jackal to jackal,” James said.
Dispelling the myth that mammals can carry and transmit the rabies virus without getting sick, James confirmed a jackal (or any other mammal) with rabies will get sick and die.
Also read:
Rabies alert: public again warned to stay away from seals
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