Abstract

Rodents are common vertebrate pests on zoo grounds. These wild rodents present many challenges for zoos including hygiene issues, competition with collection animals for food, and the transmission of disease pathogens to collection animals and/or humans. As a group, rodents are probably the predominant natural reservoirs for pathogens that cause disease in humans (Table 1). In addition to wild rodents on zoo grounds, many zoos have rodent species within their collections, with a number of these species used as contact animals. Disease issues in these zoo animals are also of concern as they may serve as reservoirs of exotic zoonotic pathogens. The zoo veterinarian should be familiar with rodent-borne zoonotic pathogens both within their region and regions where collection rodents originate, risk of zoonotic transmission, methods to control wild rodents, and preventive measures that minimize the risk of zoonotic pathogen transmission to zoo staff and visitors.

Table 1. Zoonotic pathogens of rodent species