Foot-and-mouth hits gnu migration

20 December 2000



Foot-and-mouth hits gnu migration

By FWi staff

FOOT AND MOUTH disease is threatening the migration of 1.5 million Serengeti wildebeest (gnu) in Africa, reports The Independent.

One in five animals is reported to be lame in herds hit by the disease, in what is said to be the first time the disease has been identified among the Serengeti animals.

Every July, the wildebeest move from Tanzanias Serengeti National Park to Masai Mara park in Kenya, where they mate and graze before returning.

Experts suspect that the outbreak could have been caused by infected domestic animals.

Meanwhile, an outbreak of anthrax in Zimbabwe is reported to have killed nine people as well as 70 cattle. Some 757 people have been treated for the disease.

• The Independent 20 December 2000 page 11