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SPRINGDALE, Washington County — Livestock owners and other concerned citizens gathered at Sunny Lee’s barn in Springdale on Tuesday to discuss the recent outbreak of a deadly strain of pneumonia in the Zion bighorn sheep population, and how to prevent it in the future.
Zion wildlife biologist Janice Stroud-Settles spoke about the disease and how local sheep and goat owners can prevent a future outbreak by keeping their domestic livestock from coming in contact with bighorn sheep.
The disease
Bighorn sheep pneumonia is primarily caused by a bacteria called Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, otherwise known as Movi, which interferes with the mobile defense mechanisms in the lungs. While the bacteria can cause pneumonia itself, it mainly causes other bacteria to invade the lungs.
Symptoms of the disease include coughing, nasal discharge and laziness, but most often the animals are simply found dead. Bighorn sheep coughing sounds similar to a human cough, and all coughing sheep sightings should be reported to Zion National Park at 435-772-0217 or Zion_park_information@nps.gov.
Movi only affects sheep and goats, and is passed easily through nose-to-nose contact. There is no vaccine or cure for bighorn sheep pneumonia and once a herd has been exposed it’s too late to stop it.
“I doesn’t just go away. It doesn’t just fade out. It is persistent in populations for decades and decades. It’s here,” Stroud-Settles said.
KSL's Southern Utah News Section
Looking for more news from the southern part of the state? Visit our southern Utah section for more stories, events and features.While the mortality rate is high, and herds experience an average of a 48 percent population decline, sheep can survive the disease. Those who do survive become immune, but ewes do not pass on this immunity to their lambs. Worse still, the surviving ewes are still carriers and can pass Movi to their lambs who often die as a result.
So far, no sheep have died from pneumonia in Zion since the outbreak. Park officials are cautiously optimistic as it appears the sheep are surviving the disease and becoming immune. However, it could still largely impact the herd if only a few lambs survive this spring.
