Parisites found in Dall Sheep

Dall sheep in the Northwest Territories have parasites that may be killing them. Government biologists and a university researcher found the parasites in their lungs and muscles. The discovery was made about two years ago. But scientists now say the problem could be spreading.

Dall sheep can be found in the arctic and subarctic. Two types of parasites have been found in them. One is a lung worm, which is commonly found in other sheep.

The second has never been found in the species.

Susan Kutz is an associate researcher at the University of Saskatchewan.

She says both parasites, combined with other stresses, can lead to pheumonia, and later, death.

But Kutz says she's very worried about how fast the parasites can spread. "At warmer temperatures, the parasites develop faster. It they develop faster then there can also be more of them in the evironment in the summer time and an increased chance for sheep to become infected."

Kutz says the parasite passes through the dall sheep's body into its feces.

It later gets into snails and slugs, which are eaten by other sheep.

Alasdair Veitch is the supervisor of wildlife management at the territorial department of resources, wildlife, and economic development.

He doesn't know how bad the problem is, but it is something he's worried about.

"We had one ten month lamb that died recently in the MacKenzie Mountains. We picked it up last week and we found large numbers of this parasite in the lamb. People at the vet college tell us that this was a big part of the reason why the animal died."

All of the infected sheep that have been discovered so far were found in the Mackenzie mountains near Norman Wells.

Veitch says there are between 16 and 28 thousand dall sheep in the territories.

The sheep are also found in the Richardson Mountains near Inuvik.

The department is now doing more tests to determine how widespread the problem is and if the parasites are spreading.