Zoological and epizoological aspects in the study of bobak marmot (Marmota bobac) in the Kharkov province. Zoologitcheskiï i epizootologitcheskiï aspekty izoutcheniïa sourka – baïbka (Marmota bobac) v kharkovskoï oblasti. [Aspects zoologiques et épizoologiques de l’étude de la marmotte bobac (Marmota bobac) de la province de Kharkov].

Résumé

Bobak marmot (Marmota bobac) is an ancient rodent inhabitant of steppes of the Kharkov province. At present, mainly due to the efforts undertaken by Kharkov's Society of Hunters and Fishermen (chaired by A. S. Avdeev), this species has been distributed throughout the Kharkov province, and has been locally found in the Sumy, Kiev, Odessa, Cherkassk, Zaporozhie, Khmelnitsk, Poltava, Nikolaev, Zhitomir, Donetsk, Vinnitsa, and Kirovograd provinces, Crimea, and Moldova. Its local population is represented by bigger animals. Here we indicate maximum dimensions of mature baibak's body: P(g) - 9400, L(mm) - 620, Ca(mm) - 170, PI(mm) - 100, Au(mm) - 35. In Ukraine, bobak was unknown to bear especially dangerous infections before 1970s (Abelintsev V. I., et al., 1961). In the Kharkov province, the epizootology of bobak was first studied by Sivkov V.V., a zoologist from the Division of Especially Dangerous Infections under the provincial sanitary epidemiological station in 1975. At that time, rabbit-fever tests were negative. In 1980- 1982, some cases rabbit-fever in human beings were revealed in the Velikoburluk district. In 1980, bacteriologists from the Division of Especially Dangerous Infections isolated culture Fransisella tularensis from water of the Nizhniy Burluk river. Later, the tests of small mammals that were examined for rabbit-fever repeatedly showed positive results. In the spring of 1986, in the Velikoburluk district we found a corpse of baibak that was washed out of its hole, and examined it for rabbit-fever. The antibodies neutralization reaction (ANR) gave positive results in titres 1 :20. In indirect hemolytic agglutination reaction (IHAR) positive results were obtained in 1991, 1997, 1998, and 2003.135 bobaks (76 males, 59 females ) that were taken from seven districts of the province were bacteriologically and immunologically tested during the period 1975 through 2004. Rabbit-fever tests showed positive results in six percent of the animals, yersiniosis - 3.7 percent, erysipeloid - 0.7 percent. Tests for leptospirosis, salmonellosis and brucellosis were negative. In 2003, three of four bobaks tested for rabies in the provincial veterinary laboratory showed positive results. Considering bobak's sensitivity to pathogenic organisms that cause especially dangerous infections, this species needs a stricter epizootological control, especially since the animals are being widely resettled to the other provinces of Ukraine and abroad.