Wildfire smoke may be behind recent bighorn pneumonia outbreak in Skalkaho area

[Ronan Kelly]

Wildfire smoke may be behind recent bighorn pneumonia outbreak in Skalkaho area

By PERRY BACKUS of the Missoulian missoulian.com | Posted: Saturday, September 24, 2011 8:30 pm

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.HAMILTON - Another pneumonia outbreak has killed bighorn sheep in the Skalkaho area and a veterinarian thinks smoke from wildfires may be to blame.

If it spreads, the outbreak would be the seventh major die-off of bighorn sheep in western Montana since 2009.

State wildlife officials picked up two of the dead bighorn sheep right next to the Skalkaho Highway. A third was found on a nearby road.

A local veterinarian confirmed the two Skalkaho Highway sheep died from severe cases of pneumonia. The third bighorn had been dead too long for a conclusive necropsy to be completed.

Dr. Brent Race of Hamilton said the sheep's lungs were filled with fluid and had adhered to the animals' chest walls and diaphragms.

"They essentially suffocated," Race said. "In laymen's terms, 85 percent of the lung was diseased and only about 15 remained operable. It was a severe case of pneumonia."

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Read more: http://missoulian.com/news/state-an...70d-11e0-9374-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1Yxeof9vA

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Wildfire smoke may be behind recent bighorn pneumonia outbreak in Skalkaho area

FWP tracks pneumonia outbreak in southern Park County bighorn herd​

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By the Associated Press missoulian.com | <!-- AP Updated -->Posted: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 8:17 am​

LIVINGSTON - Wildlife officials are monitoring bighorn sheep from a southern Park County herd that was hit by pneumonia to gauge the risk of a large-scale die-off of the animals.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Karen Loveless told the Livingston Enterprise that five sheep from the afflicted herd near Cinnabar Mountain have been killed since early December.
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Loveless says it's possible the disease was transmitted to the wild animals by infected domestic sheep.​

Full text:
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