In a remarkable feat of innovation, retired London zookeeper Tony Cholerton has developed a groundbreaking machine that could revolutionise the way we approach wildlife vaccination. The Robovacc, a clever contraption Cholerton created to administer shots to a shy tiger at London Zoo, is now being eyed as a potential solution to the long-standing challenge of bovine TB in cattle.
Cholerton’s invention, which he controlled from an adjacent room using a handset taken from a remote-control toy aeroplane, successfully vaccinated the tiger without the animal even realising it. The young tiger briefly paused mid-meal, as the needle penetrated its rear end, before calmly continuing to eat. This remarkable success has led Cholerton to believe that his fully automated version of the Robovacc, dubbed the Autovacc, could be the key to solving the problem of badger-to-cattle transmission of bovine TB.
Badger vaccination has long been a controversial and labour-intensive process, requiring the animals to be trapped and held for several hours before a trained vaccinator can administer the shots. In contrast, Cholerton’s Autovacc could vaccinate a colony of up to 20 badgers without any human intervention, with each animal being detained for no more than a minute or two.
“The dream is to see it used by scientists and farmers,” Cholerton said, believing his prototype could be mass-produced cheaply. “This is about giving the scientists the means to show that the science is correct, and badger vaccination works. The farmers win because they have a means to solve the TB problem in cattle. Everyone wins.”
Cholerton’s invention has already proven successful in administering vaccines to other captive species, such as lions and Diana monkeys, at London Zoo. He found that the machine works best on carnivores, which tolerate the pin-prick, unlike primates, which remember the experience and then avoid the machine.
The Autovacc for badgers has been tested on ring-tailed coatis, which, like badgers, are unafraid of entering tunnels. The machine uses smart technology to prevent the same animal from being vaccinated more than once, and a series of safety mechanisms ensure the animal cannot be harmed during the process.
Cholerton hopes that the next stage will involve collaboration with conservation scientists, charities that have been overseeing badger vaccination, and even interested farmers who are willing to trial his Autovacc machine. “This has got to be a collaboration,” he said. “The more interest the better. It would just be nice to see it being used with wild animals and undertaking vaccinations in a way that isn’t too invasive.”
If the Autovacc proves successful in the humane vaccination of badgers, it could have far-reaching implications for wildlife conservation and the control of zoonotic diseases. As Rosie Wood, the chair of Badger Trust, said, “Vaccination of any wild species is stressful for the animal concerned, so it’s heartening to know that jab-shy captive wild species can now be vaccinated stress-free. There are many possible future applications for the technology – most I suspect are ones we haven’t thought of yet but might be the next zoonotic pandemic, so investment in it should be taken seriously.”
