First reported case of anthrax in wildlife: Infected zebra most likely causes death of 3 cheetahs

Since 2015, scientists of the Leibniz-IZW Cheetah Research Project (CRP) conduct a National Cheetah Survey together with the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT). The purpose is to obtain data on cheetah density and distribution across the country. Within this framework, a coalition of three cheetah males was captured in the Namib Desert and one animal equipped with a GPS collar. The recorded location and movement data were regularly downloaded during aerial tracking flights. On one of these flights, on October 5th 2019, the carcass of a collared cheetah—one of the members of the coalition—was located from the aircraft. During the following ground inspection, the other two cheetahs were also found dead. "The GPS data of the collared cheetah revealed that they died within a time window of six hours a few days before we found them," says Ruben Portas, CRP scientist. "Evaluating their most recent movements, we identified a cluster of GPS locations approximately two kilometers away from the location where they were found dead." At this spot the cheetahs spent 20 hours on the day before their death. When visiting this cluster, Portas found the carcass of an adult mountain zebra. The GPS and activity data from the collar suggested that the cheetahs fed on it. Bacillus anthracis, the cause of Anthrax infections, was isolated from buccal and nasal swabs collected from the dead zebra, making it the first confirmed anthrax infection in a wildlife species in the Namib Desert.

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