More than 100 hippos dead

BWABWATA is a national park in Africa located in north east Namibia, where the Okavango Delta is located. The Okavango Delta is both a permanent and seasonal home to a wide variety of wildlife, and the largest freshwater wetland in southern Africa.

There is a dynamic seasonal shift of animals between the arid region that surrounds the delta and the Okavango Delta itself. During the wet season most large animals move away from the delta to take advantage of the lush grazing that surrounds it. As this grazing begins to die in the winter, animals move back to the delta.

The first victim of the outbreak in Bwabwata National Park was noticed by park officials last month, but less than a fortnight the infection rapidly spread, and claimed a suspected 109 hippos. Investigations are still ongoing, but it was in a suspected outbreak of anthrax. Locals and Nambian authorities suspect anthrax on the basis of a history of outbreaks in the African region. In 2004, as many as 200 hippos died from a deadly anthrax outbreak in Uganda. It also happened in Zambia before, and it mainly occurs when the level of the river is low that may have exposed the deadly patches of soil.

Anthrax illness is caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis, which is thought to naturally come into contact with wildlife when water recedes. While anthrax is known infamously as potential biological weapon, the bacteria naturally occur in the soil, where they can lay unnoticed for decades.

A similar incident happened last year, more than 1,500 reindeer died from anthrax infections in Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic Circle. Scientists believe the melting of permafrost due to the warm temperature unearthed the frozen carcass of a reindeer that died of anthrax in the last outbreak.