infrastructure was erected (including fences and double fences), and strict movement
controls were imposed, but these failed to contain the spread. By the time it reached
southern Zimbabwe, it had laid waste to cattle populations in those countries. The
Ndebele people of southern Zimbabwe held the colonists responsible for the disease
outbreak which deprived them of their cattle, and 244 Europeans were killed partly
in retaliation. Transport of goods almost ceased, because no oxen were available to
pull wagons and horse sickness limited equine use. The effect of rinderpest invasion
was so rapid and dramatic that transport routes were littered with abandoned wagons
filled with goods (Vogel and Heyne 1996). An estimate of 2.5 million cattle deaths
alone in southern Africa has been made and in some districts only 3–7% of the
original cattle population remained. No accurate estimates of mortality in wild
animals can be made, but clearly informal reports suggest that mortality must have
been similar in wild mammals. Evidence for this is that the ecosystem was altered,
with tall rank grass unsuitable for small stock and the disappearance of tsetse flies
from former habitat owing to the lack of suitable wildlife species. To this day, tsetse
flies are still absent from KNP. We do not know in what other ways contemporary
ecosystems in the KNP were affected by rinderpest: some have suggested that the
tree/grass community changed dramatically, and that tree diversity changed dramatically. For example, many large trees in KNP today are around 100 years old. In
other words, they had opportunity to germinate and grow with no browsing pressure
until they reached a large enough size to survive. There are suggestions that the same
species are not represented in similar numbers of a younger age cohort (personal
observation and discussion with local individuals). This is an area ripe for research
and consideration.
Such ecosystem effects were seen in the Serengeti National Park (Holdo et al.
2009) when historical data were examined for evidence of the associations between
fire, rainfall, atmospheric CO 2 , elephants and wildebeest on tree density. When
wildebeest numbers rose after the eradication of rinderpest in the 1960s, grazing
increased dramatically. Modelling of the available data suggested that the lower fuel
load from more intense grazing before the rinderpest era resulted in fewer fires,
which in turn resulted in more trees (Holdo et al. 2009). Likewise, it has been shown
that herbivory and fire are competitive major drivers of vegetation dynamics in the
Kruger Park savanna system, and that herbivory affects fire which in turn leads to
changes in biodiversity (Smit and Archibald 2019). In effect, reduction in herbivory
would have resulted in more grass, more fires and more intense fires with consequent
changes in the ecosystem.
The effect of rinderpest on human populations was severe: farmers and communities not served by railway became isolated. Many rural people faced starvation and
families became bankrupt. Famine broke out because crop production became
almost impossible. There was mass migration to work on the mines in Johannesburg
and Kimberley, leading to the development of the first slums in South Africa, and
many political issues that persist today. Although the estimated direct financial loss
of this epidemic was about ZAR 1.6 billion (adjusted to July 2018 value), the
indirect costs would have exceeded that sum, particularly when we consider that
South Africa has been irreversibly shaped by some of the consequences of this
10 Pathogens of Vertebrate Animals as Invasive Species: Insights from South Africa
261
controls were imposed, but these failed to contain the spread. By the time it reached
southern Zimbabwe, it had laid waste to cattle populations in those countries. The
Ndebele people of southern Zimbabwe held the colonists responsible for the disease
outbreak which deprived them of their cattle, and 244 Europeans were killed partly
in retaliation. Transport of goods almost ceased, because no oxen were available to
pull wagons and horse sickness limited equine use. The effect of rinderpest invasion
was so rapid and dramatic that transport routes were littered with abandoned wagons
filled with goods (Vogel and Heyne 1996). An estimate of 2.5 million cattle deaths
alone in southern Africa has been made and in some districts only 3–7% of the
original cattle population remained. No accurate estimates of mortality in wild
animals can be made, but clearly informal reports suggest that mortality must have
been similar in wild mammals. Evidence for this is that the ecosystem was altered,
with tall rank grass unsuitable for small stock and the disappearance of tsetse flies
from former habitat owing to the lack of suitable wildlife species. To this day, tsetse
flies are still absent from KNP. We do not know in what other ways contemporary
ecosystems in the KNP were affected by rinderpest: some have suggested that the
tree/grass community changed dramatically, and that tree diversity changed dramatically. For example, many large trees in KNP today are around 100 years old. In
other words, they had opportunity to germinate and grow with no browsing pressure
until they reached a large enough size to survive. There are suggestions that the same
species are not represented in similar numbers of a younger age cohort (personal
observation and discussion with local individuals). This is an area ripe for research
and consideration.
Such ecosystem effects were seen in the Serengeti National Park (Holdo et al.
2009) when historical data were examined for evidence of the associations between
fire, rainfall, atmospheric CO 2 , elephants and wildebeest on tree density. When
wildebeest numbers rose after the eradication of rinderpest in the 1960s, grazing
increased dramatically. Modelling of the available data suggested that the lower fuel
load from more intense grazing before the rinderpest era resulted in fewer fires,
which in turn resulted in more trees (Holdo et al. 2009). Likewise, it has been shown
that herbivory and fire are competitive major drivers of vegetation dynamics in the
Kruger Park savanna system, and that herbivory affects fire which in turn leads to
changes in biodiversity (Smit and Archibald 2019). In effect, reduction in herbivory
would have resulted in more grass, more fires and more intense fires with consequent
changes in the ecosystem.
The effect of rinderpest on human populations was severe: farmers and communities not served by railway became isolated. Many rural people faced starvation and
families became bankrupt. Famine broke out because crop production became
almost impossible. There was mass migration to work on the mines in Johannesburg
and Kimberley, leading to the development of the first slums in South Africa, and
many political issues that persist today. Although the estimated direct financial loss
of this epidemic was about ZAR 1.6 billion (adjusted to July 2018 value), the
indirect costs would have exceeded that sum, particularly when we consider that
South Africa has been irreversibly shaped by some of the consequences of this
10 Pathogens of Vertebrate Animals as Invasive Species: Insights from South Africa
261