"Foot and mouth disease is spreading far and wide, and game farmers are very worried—the longer the government takes to stop the outbreak, the more money game farmers will lose. The disease-free buffalo industry in South Africa is extremely vulnerable to the current foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks, and wildlife veterinarians warn that the risk to the entire game industry is much greater and more complex than is generally acknowledged.Buffaloes are carriers of the FMD virus: they rarely show clear clinical symptoms, move over large areas, form dynamic herds, and can carry the virus for years while periodically shedding it. Young calves continuously lose maternal immunity and serve as new susceptible hosts, keeping the virus circulating in the herd.
Once FMD takes hold in a disease-free buffalo herd, it can become almost permanently established. Current protocols then require the complete culling of the entire herd, which is practically impossible in large reserves with thousands of buffaloes over tens of thousands of hectares—creating major problems with carcasses and disposal. South Africa has more than 3,200 registered disease-free buffalo farms (more than half in Limpopo), supporting tens of thousands of jobs in remote rural areas and contributing billions of rands annually to hunting, tourism, genetic material sales, and related services.
Many of these farms are on marginal agricultural land with no realistic alternative land uses, so a collapse would have devastating socio-economic consequences.Experts say the greatest danger now comes from infected cattle transmitting the virus to disease-free buffaloes, especially through poor movement control, auctions, illegal transport, and insufficient testing. Other wildlife species (warthogs, kudu) can act as intermediaries, while poor fencing, shared water points, and intensive supplementary feeding practices increase risks.Prevention is now critical: since buffaloes may not be vaccinated, the focus must be on ring vaccination of cattle around buffalo farms (based on risk analysis, not administrative boundaries), stricter decentralised movement control, better fencing, faster diagnosis, surveillance, and technology for early detection.
Wildlife veterinarians warn that without joint action and a rethink of biosecurity in mixed cattle and wildlife landscapes, the disease-free buffalo industry—and thus the entire game sector—could take decades to recover, if ever. The current outbreaks, especially in Limpopo, are a ticking time bomb for the game industry."
If foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) establishes itself in South Africa's disease-free buffalo herds, particularly the high-value populations on private game farms and reserves, the fallout would be severe, prolonged, and potentially ruinous for the entire wildlife and game farming industry.African buffalo act as natural, long-term carriers of the FMD virus. They rarely display obvious symptoms, range over vast territories, form fluid herds, and can shed the virus intermittently for years. Once the virus enters a herd, newborn calves lose maternal immunity and become fresh hosts, allowing continuous circulation.
This creates an almost permanent reservoir that is extraordinarily difficult to eliminate.Under current WOAH and South African rules, any infected disease-free buffalo herd must be completely culled to restore or preserve FMD-free status. In large reserves or farms holding thousands of animals across tens of thousands of hectares, full depopulation is practically unfeasible—logistically (locating and killing every buffalo), financially (carcass disposal), and ethically. No realistic alternative exists for herds of that scale.
Infected buffalo could also spread the virus to other wildlife (such as warthogs and kudu serving as short-term carriers) through shared water points, inadequate fencing, or natural movement, potentially converting large ecosystems into persistent reservoirs. This would greatly complicate regional control and heighten risks to neighbouring cattle operations (and the reverse, as cattle remain the main vector currently transmitting to buffaloes).The game sector could face a "ticking time bomb" collapse, most acutely in Limpopo, inflicting serious damage on tourism, biodiversity conservation, rural livelihoods, and indirect national food security through economic ripple effects.
Experts stress that without immediate prevention—such as ring vaccination of surrounding cattle herds guided by risk analysis, stricter decentralised movement controls, improved fencing, faster diagnostics, enhanced surveillance, and technology for early detection—the disease-free buffalo industry and much of the wildlife/game sector could require decades to recover or might never fully recover.In essence, an FMD incursion into disease-free buffalo herds would almost certainly be catastrophic: forcing mass culling where achievable, locking in permanent virus persistence in wildlife reservoirs, inflicting devastating economic losses on thousands of farms and jobs, and causing enduring harm to South Africa's wildlife industry.
Urgent prevention via targeted cattle vaccination around buffalo zones and robust biosecurity measures is viewed as essential before it becomes too late.
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