OSPRI Uses ENVI to Protect New Zealand’s Livestock
OSPRI Uses ENVI to Protect New Zealand’s Livestock
3 PagesOSPRI Uses ENVI to Protect New Zealand’s Livestock BACKGROUND In December 2015, an outbreak of bovine Tuberculosis (TB) infected four herds of deer and cattle in Mt. Cargill area, on the outskirts of Dunedin, New Zealand. Needless to say, the news was not welcomed. After reaching peak levels in the 1990s, a large-scale $1.2 billion control effort had brought TB affected herds down from 1700 in 1998 to only 41 in 2015. When the outbreak was discovered at Mt. Cargil, OSPRI immediately began investigating. They quickly determined the source of the infection to be possum. Research shows that the brushtail possum is one of the main TB vectors. OSPRI, through their TBfree programme, conducts large-scale possum control operations to proactively reduce the levels of wildlife infection that could
