Okanagan bighorn sheep disease monitoring program cancelled
The treasured California bighorn sheep herds in the South Okanagan have been an ongoing topic of concern as their populations are declining due to diseases and habitat loss from development.The sheep are impacted by psoroptes mange and mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, two potentially deadly diseases, and are at risk of contracting fatal chronic wasting disease.The sheep disease monitoring program that tracks the diseases is one of many provincial fish and wildlife programs in crisis, according BC Wildlife Foundation media release issued Sept. 18.Wildlife staff with the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship are facing a ban on travel in the field and in some departments staff have been asked to turn in their government cell phones as a cost-saving measure after operational budgets were cut by 30 to 70%, according to the wildlife foundation.“It’s huge, there were early signs in February including travel freezes, then the 2024 budget letter to the ministry didn’t come out, and suddenly we have people who can’t…
22 Sep 01:00 · iNFOnews.ca