SNAPP TEAM:Steppe Health
Can diverse stakeholders stop a fatal viral epidemic threatening endangered wildlife and livestock critical to over half the people in Mongolia?

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an extremely contagious viral disease that is spreading into new regions across the globe, causing devastating socio-economic losses and serious damage to the livelihoods, food security, and nutrition for millions of small-scale farmers and pastoralists. In Mongolia, the effects of the epidemic have been particularly dire. In August 2016, PPR killed thousands of head of livestock, despite widespread vaccination. The disease also impacted wildlife, killing over 50 percent of the critically endangered Mongolian saiga antelope population in less than two months. This catastrophic loss of wildlife also caused immediate consequences for other endangered animals, including snow leopards, that depend on wild ungulates for food.

 

OUR APPROACH: Along with livestock health authorities, herders, biologists, wildlife health specialists, international aid organizations, and conservation NGOs, the working group has sought new ideas to free the country’s wildlife, economy, and livelihoods from this disease, and explore options for integrated management of wildlife and livestock health.

Team Status: COMPLETED
Team Critical Challenges: Food and Freshwater, Social Innovations
Key Products
PPR virus threatens wildlife conservation

The circulation of PPR in Asia has grave consequences in wildlife populations already struggling with overhunting, poaching, livestock competition, and climatic events. We urgently need more PPR surveillance and wildlife protection measures.

Outbreak of Peste des Petits Ruminants among Critically Endangered Mongolian Saiga and Other Wild Ungulates

In this piece, published by the CDC, the authors determine that the mass mortality of both wildlife and domestic ungulates was caused by the introduction of the peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV).

Eradication of Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus and the Wildlife-Livestock Interface

The team  published a framework that lays the foundation for eradicating PPRV in a five-year period by covering four major components.

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Team
Leaders
Amanda Fine
Wildlife Conservation Society
Enkhtuvshin Shiiledgdamba
Wildlife Conservation Society
Members
Lhagvasuren Badamjav
Mongolian Academy of Sciences
Chimiddorj Buyannemekh
WWF Mongolia
Véronique Chevalier
French Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD)
Andy Dobson
Princeton University
Bodisaikhan Khishgee
Veterinary and Animal Breeding Agency, Ministry of Food, Agriculture & Light Industry
Richard Kock
Royal Veterinary College, University of London
Jeffery Mariner
Tufts University
Jamiyankhuu Narmandakh
Dept of Environment & Natural Resources, Ministry of Environment & Tourism
Felix Njeumi
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Mathieu Pruvot
Department of Ecosystem and Public Health at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary
Bayarjargal Yunden
The Nature Conservancy
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