Ethics

All procedures including immobilisation of animals and blood and swab collection were undertaken by South African Veterinary Council—registered wildlife veterinarians for management or other veterinary procedures unrelated to this study. Procedures were carried out according to the SANParks Standard Operating Procedures for the Capture, Transportation and Maintenance in Holding Facilities of Wildlife.Ethical approval for this project was granted by the Stellenbosch University Animal Care and Use Committee (ACU-2020-0966, ACU-2020-19019, ACU-2021-19019, ACU-2022-19019) and the Stellenbosch University Biological and Environmental Safety Research Ethics Committee (SU-BEE-202122561; SU-BES-202322561). Section 20 approval was issued by the South African Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD; 12/11/1/7/2, 12/11/1/7/2A (JD)).

An approved Biomaterial Transfer Agreement (BMTA 005/22; 011/19) was obtained from South African National Parks (SANParks) which includes evaluation by their Animal Care and Use Committee. A Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS) permit was obtained through the South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA Standing Permit S02556; {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"S65805","term_id":"2148099","term_text":"pir||S65805"}}S65805 and DEA Registration Certificate 29416; 02256).

All procedures involving potentially infectious material (e.g. mycobacterial culture) were performed in a Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) facility that is certified for compliance under the Directorate Animal Health (DAH) of DALRRD. All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations as described by Stellenbosch University’s Animal Care and Use Committee and SANParks. ARRIVE guidelines for reporting animal research have been followed (https://arriveguidelines.org/).