Control of Intestinal Coccidiosis in Chamois and Other Wild Ruminants Using Monensin

Introduction Intestinal coccidiosis, a contagious enteritis caused mainly by infection with the protozoan parasite Eimeria spp., occurs universally, affecting both domesticated and wild mammals. Overt disease with diarrhea, dysentery and even death, or chronic infection with symptoms of malnourishment, or subclinical infection with diminished weight gain, may be present within a group of affected animals. The disease is most important where animals are housed or confined in small areas-the situation found in large scale management systems and in zoologie al collections. Overt disease caused by Eimeria spp. was repeatedly diagnosed at Tierpark Hellabrunn in many species of wild ruminants. As previous methods of therapeutic treatment of the affected cases did little to reduce the overall occurrence of disease, and initial trials to reduce oocyst excretion by prophylactie use of amprolium in a dosage of 40 mg/kg body weight were not satisfactory,22 a study of the prophylactic effects of monensin was undertaken in the following field trial. The anticoccidial compound monensin is an ionophore antibiotic produced as a fermentation product of Streptomyces cinnamonensis 1 o. It has been proven to be effective against enteric coccidiosis in