African wild dogs are endangered with fewer than 6,600 adults in the wild. Their small, fragmented populations are highly susceptible to disease outbreaks from domestic dogs including canine distemper virus and rabies, which can eliminate entire packs.
Wild dogs infected with canine distemper or rabies suffer acute neurological disease that causes behavioural changes, seizures, and death. Pack members that witness the decline of companions are exposed to the social disruption of losing cooperative hunting partners. Disease that eliminates an entire pack represents simultaneous welfare harm to multiple highly social individuals and the total loss of a cooperative unit. Domestic dog vaccination in buffer zones is a cost-effective welfare intervention.