Hilton Veterinary Hospital announced, 'We have just had a report from Kevin le Roux, the Rabies control officer at Allerton, to say that there is Jackal Rabies at Nottingham Road and moving south at a serious pace. We must consider the whole of the Midlands area a risk. If your dogs and cats have not been vaccinated against Rabies in the last 3 years then please do so as soon as possible. Please the communication below seriously.'
In 2012 there was a serious outbreak of canine rabies in the Okhahlamba area. This led to a spill over into the jackal population (See concentration of cases in the northern corner of map) with a number of other wildlife species becoming victims (Caracal; Baboon; Dassie). Following an intense vaccination campaign amongst the local dog population, the disease disappeared and has not been seen in the Canine population since!
It was however suspected that we had not seen the end of the jackal cycle, and so far in the January 2015 we have had 3 jackal cases (2 in Estcourt near Wagondrift dam and now 1 near Nottingham rd) This represents a movement of nearly 130Km from the original outbreak, and I believe we can consider the whole of this midlands area now a potentially endemic Jackal rabies area.