Wild Animal Treatment.

When I was fortunate enough to visit Zambia I took part in four days of tracking animals by their spoor and also learning about the animals that we were following.
It was here that the issues surrounding the treatment of wild animals were raised to me. The game reserve that I was on were having problems with their giraffes, the reticulated giraffe. A large number of these graceful animals were suffering from a disease which caused tumours to build up in the neck. This is a very serious disease with obvious implications on the health of the animal, just as tumours with humans. Yet their are huge ethical issues that have to be considered, particularly from a veterinary perspective. It is said that what events which occur in the wild, must not be interfered with by humans, and their are very good reasons for this. If a animal is treated by humans and then released back into the wild, the risk is that this animal will be rejected and in some cases even killed by its own kind, having come into contact with humans for no fault of its own. In situations like this we would only succeed in making the problem worse.

However on the other hand many would say, with many veterinarians included, that the animal should be made to suffer as little as is reasonably possible. In the veterinary profession the first concern should be the health of the animal, and so both these issues must be addressed to ensure that the best possible action in the situation is taken.

We must also consider that for a disease such as the one that I have mentioned, it is able to spread form giraffe to giraffe, thereby increasing the numbers with the disease as well as therefore increasing the numbers who could die from it.
There are a number of steps that could be taken, each with their positives and negatives.
Those with the disease could be culled, in an attempt to prevent the disease from becoming more of a problem. However this would mean that numbers from the population would be lost, which would be a significant drawback, particularly for this reserve which was attempting to increase its giraffe numbers.
Another step that could be taken is to treat the animals with the disease, however as I mentioned the animals may not be able to be re-released back into the reserve. There would also be significant costs to consider for the medicines and treatment procedures.

It is very important that any animals that do die, tumours can be examined with the hope that further research will be able to shed light on the reasons for the disease and possible steps to prevent it in the future.
When I left the reserve they were in the process of deciding when would be the best time to intervene, a decision that considering the above points would have taken a long time.
We must keep in our minds that although we should not interfere with nature as a species, in many respects we have a duty of care to protect these animals so that future generations can appreciate these remarkable species.