The Syracuse Rosamond Gifford Zoo's elephant twins are among the first elephants to receive a groundbreaking new vaccine.
Yaad and Tukada received the Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpes Virus vaccine. EEHV can be lethal – something the Syracuse Zoo knows too well as the zoo saw the twins' brothers die within days of each other from the virus in 2020.
Elephants have some immunity toward the deadly virus when they are young but that immunity wanes once the calves turn two.
“That's when the vaccine is critical to get that in the calves so that they can, if they are exposed to the EHV, that they have a better chance of combating it and it not becoming lethal," Ted Fox, executive director of the zoo, said. "They might still show clinical signs, we can't prevent it completely, but hopefully it wouldn't be lethal or being nearly as bad, similar to what we do with the flu. “
Fox said the elephants will receive a booster vaccine in a few weeks. He says the vaccine is in a trial phase so blood samples from the twins will help researchers understand how long immunity might last.
“This isn't a hundred percent certainty that they'll never contract it and it will never get to a point where it's tragic, but we're certainly hopeful," Fox said. "And this is a huge step forward for us and for the entire elephant community and elephants.”
The vaccine was developed at Baylor College of Medicine in coordination with the Syracuse Zoo and Cornell University.
