A bacterial pneumonia is killing bighorn sheep in five Western states. Every year a low number of this unusual wildlife species succumb to pneumonia, but this year the numbers dying are multiple times the norm. What is so unusual about this outbreak of disease is that wildlife veterinarians do not know the cause and why it is so widespread; affecting sheep in Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Washington. Bighorn sheep live in extremely remote locales in some of this country’s most rugged and pristine landscape. What needs to be answered is how is it spreading across state lines from one remote location to the next and why are so many of the sheep that become ill dying. Was weather and food availability a factor this past winter?
This June, the Northern Wild Sheep and Goat Council will hold a workshop for those working in the affected states so that they may share their data and effectiveness of their response protocols so far. Long term strategies will be discussed. The good news is that wildlife officials will have a break in figuring this disease problem out as herds migrate to higher elevations from their winter grazing lands.
Peter G Fisher, DVM
From the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association Vol 1236 (9)
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