With rabies emerging as a particular threat to wild canids, we report on a rabies outbreak in a subpopulation of endangered Ethiopian wolves in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia, in 2003 and 2004. Parenteral vaccination of wolves was used to manage the outbreak. During the last decade, infectious diseases have posed a major risk to small populations of wild vertebrates. Highly pathogenic infectious agents have been implicated in the decline and extirpation of a considerable number of populations. Analysis of disease outbreaks suggests that carnivores appear to be particularly susceptible. Specifically, the susceptibility of wild canids may arise from a variety of intrinsic social and ecologic factors but is undoubtedly also due to their susceptibility to general pathogens carried by the most abundant carnivore, the domestic dog. Indeed, rabies has emerged as the most common cause of disease outbreaks in wild canids.
