The Wildlife News

Wildlife Disease

  • Domestic sheep pose an imminent threat to bighorn sheep and bison in the Gardiner Basin.

    Ken Cole

    It may already be too late Throughout the west, bighorn sheep are seeking out mates and the rams are giving an incredible display by butting heads in competition for ewes.  This is a very visible spectacle in the Gardiner Basin of Montana that lies just north of Yellowstone National Park which is filled with many…

  • Mohave National Preserve bighorn sheep hit by pneumonia

    Ralph Maughan

    Suspected to have come from a domestic goat- The entire population of bighorn sheep in the Mohave National Preserve could die from pneumonia transmitted, probably, by a lone domestic Angora goat found in the desert near where the outbreak originated. The number of bighorn near Old Dad Mountain (200 to 300) has clearly declined and…

  • CNN asks “Is Cat Poop dangerous?”

    Ralph Maughan

    Yes, indeed it is from cats that roam outside- We won’t belabor this because we have discussed the dangers of the parasites in cat scat many times here. It is good to have CNN discuss it, however. The next time you step in it, after the standard “Oh S__t!” think “toxoplasmosis.”  Disinfect your shoes. The…

  • US Fish and Wildlife Service sued by Western Watersheds over the legal implication of grizzly bear disappearance

    Ralph Maughan

    USFWS called “wrong” to say no grizzlies had been killed on Sheep Experiment Station on Idaho/Montana border, Continental Divide Area Boise, ID.  On May 17, 2013 the Western Watersheds Project, Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, Native Ecosystems Council and Yellowstone Buffalo Foundation filed a suit in federal district court to challenge domestic sheep grazing that has been…

  • Chronic Wasting Disease closes in on Yellowstone

    Ralph Maughan

    Fatal ungulate disease advances as Wyoming game managers continue on in denial- Our recent story on chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Wisconsin now has a followup in the treasured Greater Yellowstone country. In both places, wildlife managers and politicians continue to take a heedless attitude toward the always fatal elk, deer and moose disease,  and…

  • Presence of nearby domestic sheep ends plan to reintroduce bighorn to Bridger Mountains north of Bozeman

    Ralph Maughan

    Disease ridden domestic sheep killed off the bighorn in early 1900s and pose the same disease barrier today- As has been written so many times, domestic sheep are full of diseases that are fatal to their wild cousin, the bighorn. Now plans to restore the mighty bighorn to the rugged Bridger Mountains to the northeast…

  • Bad summer in U.S. for zoonoses

    Ralph Maughan

    West Nile, Hantavirus, Plague- A zoonosis is an infectious disease transmitted between species, especially from animals to humans and vice versa. New strains of influenza are usually a zoonosis having emerged from DNA mixing in geese, pigs, birds and the like, but The Wildlife News is generally  concerned with zooneses like Rocky Mountain spotted fever…

  • West Nile Virus is now present in southwest Idaho

    Ralph Maughan

    First day of annual testing shows the dangerous disease in local mosquitoes- Throughout most of the 20th Century in the United States getting bitten by mosquitoes was an irritation, sometimes a major one, but something without lasting effects. This was never true in many other countries where Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, malaria, and many more…

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‎”At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.”

Edward Abbey

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.”

Jim Fowler

“Our forests offer much more than just beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Each one has a different story to tell.”

Raveena Tandon

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