Alaska Department of Fish and Game Releases More Positive Movi Test Results From Mountain Ranges Across Alaska

ANCHORAGE — On March 20th, 2018 Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game released additional positive Movi test results in both Dall’s sheep and mountain goat from around Alaska.

In their press release ADFG states “nine more Dall’s sheep and three more mountain goats – that’s in addition to the initial discovery of the bacteria in four Dall’s sheep and two mountain goats announced March 13…”

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (M.ovi) is a foreign pathogen linked to large die offs of wild sheep in the lower 48 and southern British Columbia. Although some strains of the pathogen are more lethal than others none are good for wild sheep.

Kevin Kehoe, President of the Alaska Wild Sheep Foundation responds to the new positive tests “Sheep hunting and wildlife enthusiasts were devastated by last weeks news that four Dall’s sheep tested positive for Movi in the Talkeentna Mountains. These new reports of widespread positive Movi tests are staggering given the potential implications of having Movi in a wild population of Dall’s sheep or any wild Caprinae for that matter.”

Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game has been vigilant in their efforts to monitor wild sheep for disease. In a jointly authored memo addressed to Wildlife Director Bruce Dale dated March 3, 2016 ADFG’s Dall Sheep Research Biologist and Wildlife Veterinarian describe ongoing disease monitoring and test results.

“In Southcentral Alaska, a total of 121 adult ewes and rams have been captured and sampled in conjunction with ongoing research, and an additional five animals that were found dead have been opportunistically sampled. Sampling and screening has been centered on areas where potential contact between domestic stock and wild sheep would presumably have been most likely to occur.”

ADFG’s March, 2016 memo reports that some of the tests were in the vicinity of the four positive test results reported on 3/13/18 “(M)ost recently, in 2015, 30 adult ewes and rams were sampled from the Talkeenta Mountains in GMUs 13A and 14A west of Eureka, and east of Granite Creek.” The March, 2016 memo reports disease testing has sporadically occurred since 1979 with a sum total of 210 animals being tested.

Only one sheep tested positive for M.ovi in 2016, although the March 2016 memo determined this test was deemed inconclusive and likely a false positive because in part, “none of the other 209 animals sampled in the Alaska, Brooks, or White Mountains have been similarly positive.”

ADFG has recently utilized another lab to test for M.ovi. The March, 2016 memo references protocols developed by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Associations (WAFWA) Health Monitoring Protocols and testing done by the Washington State University’s Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL) while the March, 2018 positive Movi test came from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) laboratory.

“To be clear, even though there are legitimate questions about the recent lab results based on previous testing and field observation, we must treat these positive tests as real and respond accordingly. We wholeheartedly support ADF&G’s plan for more aggressive testing and observation state-wide to help determine exactly what we are dealing with,” Kehoe said.