4ptbuck
07-30-2009, 11:54 AM
Wow...
http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/similkameenspotlight/news/51825087.html
There have been rumours floating around Princeton for the last few days about the three Bighorn Sheep which were in a picture submitted and published in the newspaper two weeks ago. The rumour surrounds the termination of these three sheep. Is it true or is it just a rumour?
After contacting the local Conservation Officer, the deaths were confirmed, but the reasons were justified. For many many years Conservation Officers, wildlife Biologists and veterinarians have been studying the intermingling of wild sheep with domestic sheep. “The wild and domestic sheep have many similar traits,” said Helen Schwantje the Wildlife Veterinarian for the Ministry of Environment. “They can graze and water in the same areas eating and watering out of the same troughs and even interbreeding during mating season. When love is in the air, the sheep don’t differentiate,” Schwantje added.
The downside of all of this is the long history of health issues that coincide with the intermingling. In 1999, some of the vineyards in the Vaseux Lake area brought in domestic sheep to graze off their grassland. The wild sheep were soon were down amongst the domestic herd. Wild sheep are very susceptible to any organisms on the domestic herd. “Even when the whole domestic herd is healthy, they might be carrying an organism to make the less hearty wild herd very sick,” Schwantje said. The problem didn’t surface right away, but as the winter of 1999/2000 progressed some disturbing observations were being noticed. Dead and very sick wild sheep were everywhere. By spring of 2000 the Vaseux Lake herd had been reduced by almost 80 per cent. It was a shocking discovery.
“The biggest singular problem with the commingling is that the health issues don’t appear immediately,” said Schwantje. “It just isn’t an overnight problem. The wild sheep go back to their herd and expose the whole herd to any domesticated organisms they pick up and then the problems just multiply. They simply are not noticed right away because the problem doesn’t occur simultaneously.”
After the Vaseux Lake herd was almost wiped out, an international meeting of top Conservation Officers, biologists and informed wildlife specialists met in Penticton to discuss possible solutions to avoid this kind of crisis again. An international plan was solidified. “The plan resulted in a necessity to ensure active management of both the wild and domestic herds,” Schwantje explained. “We need to reduce the risks by keeping the two herds apart first and foremost, but when it occurs we must act quickly and aggressively to rectify the situation.
This particular decision of termination that occurred in Princeton recently was not just made by one person. A phone conference between two Regional Coordinators and one Provincial Coordinator was part of the process. This conference call with the Regional staff led us to our prompt response,” said Schwantje. “There are huge consequences to leaving the wild sheep alone. If those sheep had anything they would take it back to their healthy herd and we would take the risk of losing 80 per cent of our Ashnola Herd. Then, we would be seen as not using due diligence. We thought this out thoroughly.”
The Vaseux Lake herd is still recovering from their near extinction. “There was a interbreeding moratorium on hunting in the area for three years,” Schwantje said. “It made more sense to sacrifice these three out on Missezula Lake Road than to leave them. I fully support both the local Conservation Officer, Al Lay, for doing his job and the domestic breeder who recognized the problem and contacted the proper authorities. Lay did a very professional job of mitigating a potentially drastic problem to our wild herd. There is a process for sheep breeders to follow and this sheep breeder acted on the best interests of the environment. I don’t want anyone involved in this to be painted in a bad light. Everyone did the best thing they could do. We support their assistance in protecting the wild sheep.”
Conservation Officer Al Lay said there is a population of about 1500 in the Okanagan/Ashnola herd. In the U.S. the wildlife specialists are so concerned about the problems associated with the two herds intermingling that they terminate any wild sheep within nine miles of a domestic herd. “It was serious enough to bring in a helicopter to locate them,” Lay stated. “No one likes to terminate a healthy animal, but in this case we really had no choice.”
http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/similkameenspotlight/news/51825087.html
There have been rumours floating around Princeton for the last few days about the three Bighorn Sheep which were in a picture submitted and published in the newspaper two weeks ago. The rumour surrounds the termination of these three sheep. Is it true or is it just a rumour?
After contacting the local Conservation Officer, the deaths were confirmed, but the reasons were justified. For many many years Conservation Officers, wildlife Biologists and veterinarians have been studying the intermingling of wild sheep with domestic sheep. “The wild and domestic sheep have many similar traits,” said Helen Schwantje the Wildlife Veterinarian for the Ministry of Environment. “They can graze and water in the same areas eating and watering out of the same troughs and even interbreeding during mating season. When love is in the air, the sheep don’t differentiate,” Schwantje added.
The downside of all of this is the long history of health issues that coincide with the intermingling. In 1999, some of the vineyards in the Vaseux Lake area brought in domestic sheep to graze off their grassland. The wild sheep were soon were down amongst the domestic herd. Wild sheep are very susceptible to any organisms on the domestic herd. “Even when the whole domestic herd is healthy, they might be carrying an organism to make the less hearty wild herd very sick,” Schwantje said. The problem didn’t surface right away, but as the winter of 1999/2000 progressed some disturbing observations were being noticed. Dead and very sick wild sheep were everywhere. By spring of 2000 the Vaseux Lake herd had been reduced by almost 80 per cent. It was a shocking discovery.
“The biggest singular problem with the commingling is that the health issues don’t appear immediately,” said Schwantje. “It just isn’t an overnight problem. The wild sheep go back to their herd and expose the whole herd to any domesticated organisms they pick up and then the problems just multiply. They simply are not noticed right away because the problem doesn’t occur simultaneously.”
After the Vaseux Lake herd was almost wiped out, an international meeting of top Conservation Officers, biologists and informed wildlife specialists met in Penticton to discuss possible solutions to avoid this kind of crisis again. An international plan was solidified. “The plan resulted in a necessity to ensure active management of both the wild and domestic herds,” Schwantje explained. “We need to reduce the risks by keeping the two herds apart first and foremost, but when it occurs we must act quickly and aggressively to rectify the situation.
This particular decision of termination that occurred in Princeton recently was not just made by one person. A phone conference between two Regional Coordinators and one Provincial Coordinator was part of the process. This conference call with the Regional staff led us to our prompt response,” said Schwantje. “There are huge consequences to leaving the wild sheep alone. If those sheep had anything they would take it back to their healthy herd and we would take the risk of losing 80 per cent of our Ashnola Herd. Then, we would be seen as not using due diligence. We thought this out thoroughly.”
The Vaseux Lake herd is still recovering from their near extinction. “There was a interbreeding moratorium on hunting in the area for three years,” Schwantje said. “It made more sense to sacrifice these three out on Missezula Lake Road than to leave them. I fully support both the local Conservation Officer, Al Lay, for doing his job and the domestic breeder who recognized the problem and contacted the proper authorities. Lay did a very professional job of mitigating a potentially drastic problem to our wild herd. There is a process for sheep breeders to follow and this sheep breeder acted on the best interests of the environment. I don’t want anyone involved in this to be painted in a bad light. Everyone did the best thing they could do. We support their assistance in protecting the wild sheep.”
Conservation Officer Al Lay said there is a population of about 1500 in the Okanagan/Ashnola herd. In the U.S. the wildlife specialists are so concerned about the problems associated with the two herds intermingling that they terminate any wild sheep within nine miles of a domestic herd. “It was serious enough to bring in a helicopter to locate them,” Lay stated. “No one likes to terminate a healthy animal, but in this case we really had no choice.”