Domestic animal health

With the support of WCS veterinary team and in coordination with the Tacana Indigenous Peoples Council (CIPTA), the animal husbandry and wildlife health management program began in 2005 in the Tacana Indigenous Territory. The program began with the development of a participatory diagnosis of health problems and management of domestic animals in three communities and the participatory development of a strategy to address these problems. Priorities were defined as: generating capacities for animal health management, identifying and monitoring diseases, implementation of community veterinary kits, and promoting alternative livestock management. The main objective of the strategy is to implement more appropriate husbandry and disease prevention measures for domestic animals to limit disease transmission between domestic and wild animals and people, while ensuring higher animal protein availability for people (in quality and quantity), and thereby reducing hunting pressure on wildlife.

Serological and pathological samplings were conducted annually to identify the diseases that affect animal species in the area. Between 2005 and 2009, 27 different pathogens in 1,029 domestic animals were identified in 15 Tacana communities, 18 of which (six in chickens, four in pigs, six in bovines and two in dogs) were previously reported as diseases that can be transmitted between wild and domestic animals. The presence of zoonotic pathogens such as Balantidium spp., Ascaris spp., Leptospira spp. and the causal agent of cysticercosis were also detected.

Prompt technical assistance in the treatment of infectious diseases by hiring a veterinarian based in Tumupasa, the establishment of communal veterinary kits and three deworming campaigns in 15 of the 19 communities of the Tacana Indigenous Territory, involving more than 300 families and 1,400 domestic animals, have reduced the presence of diseases that cause losses and can be transmitted from domestic animals to wild animals and people.

Recently, disease diagnosis has started in the Tsimane’-Moseten communities of Asunción del Quiquibey and San Luis Chico, located in the Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve and Indigenous Territory. Between 2010 and 2011 biological samples were obtained from domestic animals to establish a health baseline and monitor the health status of animals. Results show the presence of infectious diseases in domestic birds, many of which could eventually be transmitted to wild birds.