Vaccine Administration

Vaccination of animals in captivity is fairly easy as the animals can be handled with comparative ease and normally they are small numbers of animals. Vaccinating free-ranging wildlife will depend on the recommended route of administration. Various dropout darts and biobullets are available for long-range remote injection for large mammals but this is not always practical and is time-consuming and expensive. Animals can also be herded into a capture boma and into either a truck or narrow chute. The animals can then be vaccinated by using a pole-syringe. Vaccinating through darting or herding into a boma is expensive as a helicopter is used and it can be time consuming as well as very stressful for the animals. There will always be the risk of injury or death of an animal during these procedures. It would be more practical to administer the vaccine by means of baits, drinking water or aerosol sprays from a helicopter. It could also be spread by or as a self-replicating agent through the herd but this could only be contemplated if the environmental safety of the vaccine in the target and non-target species has been thoroughly investigated.

Animals in quarantine

Pre-release vaccination should be carefully considered and the decision whether or not to immunize the animals to be released should be made by the attending veterinarian after evaluating the immunological status of the animals held in quarantine as well as the likely challenge by enzootic and exotic disease agents upon release. Vaccination of wild ungulates against enzootic diseases of contiguous domestic livestock, such as foot and mouth disease, may be indicated, as may vaccination against diseases known to be present in the release environment, such as clostridial diseases and anthrax.