BENGALURU: The detection of Feline Panleukopenia (FLP) infection in a streak of tigers rescued in Karnataka has raised concerns among forest officials and veterinarians across the country.
The contagious FLP virus is found among felines. It does not spread to humans. Zoo animals are regularly vaccinated, which is the only way to control its spread. No cases of FLP infection in felines living in the forest have been confirmed so far.
“This is the first time FLP has been reported in big cats, particularly tigers, in Karnataka,” Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Wildlife Bishwajit Mishra told The New Indian Express.
As a routine procedure, blood and fecal samples of the animals rescued for rehabilitation are tested. The infection was detected in a tigress and her four cubs, as the officials were testing samples collected from tigers rescued recently from areas near Bandipur and Nagahole forests.
By the time the results were out, the four cubs had died. The tigress was found to be the carrier of the virus. She and her cubs were born in the buffer area of Bandipur Tiger Reserve. “A study is on to understand from where the big cats contracted the virus,” Mishra said.
Officials and veterinarians fear that if the infection spreads in the wild, the tiger population may witness a drastic decline.
“After finding the FLP infection, we have decided to test samples from all captured felines. It is difficult to collect samples from those in the forests. Wild animals die in forests due to many causes, and FLP could be only one of them,” said another forest official.
A team comprising veterinarians from Karnataka and those from Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in Bareli, along with officials from Karnataka forest department and the ministry has been formed to study the origin of the FLP infection.
“One of the possibilities is that the animals have contracted the virus from a domestic feline as wild animals now stray in human habitats. Another possibility is that the virus was mutated earlier and has now become active. It is difficult to say if FLP has recently been detected in other countries, but it is the first case in Karnataka and India so far,” said an official in the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MOEFCC).
A veterinarian, who is a part of the study team said FLP virus stays dormant for long periods and acts only when the infected animal is immunocompromised. It also becomes active in cubs with low immunity levels.
“In this case, the blood samples of the tigress showed no traces of FLP, but her fecal samples confirmed that she was the carrier. The same could be happening in the wild too. If cubs show symptoms, which is now difficult to study, it is a concern,” the veterinarian said.