Late summer saw the Europe Office globe-trotting more than usual, well beyond Europe. In early September I travelled to Nordelta, near Buenos Aires in Argentina, to observe firsthand the coexistence of people and capybara. Nordelta is the largest gated community in South America, fenced off from the surrounding area: in essence, an island that 50,000 people and circa 1,000 capybara call home. The latter, native to South America, are the largest rodents in the world with adults weighing circa 60 kg. Capybara can be seen grazing or sitting in large groups comprised of a dominant male, its harem of adult females and their offsprings. In meetings with local stakeholders, I appreciated the challenges of human-capybara coexistence, such as traffic accidents and possible attack on pets. As we discussed a strategy to reduce these conflicts, I realized this was yet another context where fertility control could be useful. As many more gated communities exist in South America, contraceptives could offer a tool for people and capybaras to live peacefully together.
In October, I travelled to Canada to attend the 32nd The Wildlife Society Annual Conference in Edmonton. In addition to the above-mentioned activities, I also co-authored a poster and a second talk on tick-borne Lyme disease and methods to manage grey squirrels.
News from….
Italy: a story of coypu
In September I took part in the final conference of the LIFE project GREEN4BLUE held in Bologna (Italy) to give a short presentation on fertility control
for non-native invasive species. I also met up with my colleagues at the University of Bologna as I collaborate on a project on testing the contraceptive GonaCon on an invasive rodent species, the coypu. Tens of thousands of coypu are killed every year in this region as well as in several other European countries, but the numbers are still growing. The coypu is an aquatic rodent native to South America which was imported for fur farming into Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. In these areas, the coypu has a significant negative impact on biological diversity, crops and irrigation systems and it is associated with the collapse of riverbanks and nearby infrastructure, such as railway lines, due to its burrowing through riverbanks.
Germany: contraceptives for red deer
A recent study on 47 female red deer (Cervus elaphus) in the Bavarian Forest National Park found that after one year the administration of a single dose of the immunocontraceptive SpayVac® reduced fertility of vaccinated deer to 11% compared to a fertility rate of 86% in control animals. Camera traps and progesterone metabolites indicating pregnancy were used to evaluate the reproductive status of these deer.
Giovanna Massei
