Start with a dose of heavy rain. Add in flooding. Throw in several weeks of hot, dry weather that strips the pasture of grass and forces animals to graze down into the dirt.
That’s not only a description of this year’s weather in Saskatchewan, it’s also a recipe for the deadly disease anthrax.
An outbreak of anthrax in the Weyburn area of Saskatchewan has killed 30 to 40 bison from a grazing group of about 100 within a 500 head herd.
It’s unlikely to be an isolated incident, say experts.
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“If we have a hot, dry August and September, we could end up with several more situations like this one,” said Dr. Greg Douglas, chief veterinarian for the province.
The rain and flooding bring long buried spores to the surface and the hot, dry weather makes the animals graze close to the ground and take in the anthrax bacteria.
In this case, it was a dried up creek that got filled up from flooding, disturbing and distributing anthrax spores over a wide area.
Douglas urged producers who experienced such weather conditions to consult with local veterinarians and consider vaccinating.
Anthrax can strike without warning with disastrous consequences.
“An animal can look normal, standing there chewing its cud, and you come back an hour later and it’s dead,” said Douglas.
The bacteria cause the animal’s cardiovascular system to break down and it succumbs quickly.
Dr. Betty Althouse, veterinary program specialist for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said producers should carry out regular surveillance in the summer, checking for suspicious deaths and reporting them promptly.
She said CFIA’s role is to prevent the environment from being further contaminated.
The process followed by the agency involves quarantining the animals and the pasture, overseeing the disposal of carcasses, providing a first dose of vaccine for in-contact animals and providing a $500 per animal indemnity to defray disposal costs. There is no payment to cover the value of the lost animal.
The agency will also work with the producer to disinfect the pasture, but Althouse said it’s important to remain vigilant over the next couple of years.
“You have to admit you can’t get rid of all the spores in the pasture, so we recommend vaccinations be carried out for three years after the initial outbreak,” she said.
Anthrax occurs every year across Western Canada. The record for Saskatchewan and Canada was 800 cases in 2006, mainly in the Melfort-Tisdale region.
