NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Confi rmed: Same strain infected sheep in both of county’s herds
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — State
biologists have confi rmed
the outbreak of pneumo-
nia that has sickened and
in some cases killed big-
horn sheep in both of
Baker County’s herds was
caused by the same strain of
bacteria.
Lab results last week
showed a sheep from the
Burnt River Canyon herd
that died in October was
infected with Mycoplasma
ovipneumoniae bacteria.
That’s the same strain
of bacteria found in tissue
samples from bighorn sheep
in the Lookout Mountain
unit that died last winter and
spring, said Brian Ratliff,
district wildlife biologist at
the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s Baker
City offi ce.
The confi rmation that
the same bacterial strain
infected sheep from both
herds answered one ques-
tion, but others remain, Rat-
liff said.
Biologists don’t know the
source of the bacteria, which
had not been confi rmed in
bighorn sheep in Oregon
until February 2020, when
a lab test detected the strain
in a dead sheep found along
the Snake River Road. That
sheep was from the Look-
out Mountain herd, which
Nick Myatt/Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, File
A bighorn sheep ram photographed in the Burnt River Canyon.
ranges north of Interstate
84 and west of Brownlee
Reservoir.
There are more than 50
strains of Mycoplasma ovi-
pneumoniae, and they have
varying levels of lethality,
Ratliff said.
He said biologists don’t
know how many sheep have
died, from either the Look-
out Mountain or the Burnt
River Canyon herds. At least
a dozen Lookout Mountain
sheep died this winter and
spring, and at least three
Burnt River Canyon sheep
died in October.
Ratliff said biologists found
a dead sheep in the Burnt
River Canyon on Nov. 17.
Ratliff said he hopes to
have a more precise death
tally later in December after
taking helicopter fl ights in
both areas to count sheep.
The Lookout Moun-
tain herd has been Oregon’s
biggest herd of the Rocky
Mountain subspecies of big-
horns, with about 400 sheep.
The Burnt River Can-
yon herd, which lives in
the rugged canyon about
20 miles southeast of Baker
City, consists of the Califor-
nia bighorn subspecies. The
herd numbered about 85
animals.
Ratliff said bighorn
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Mostly sunny and
cold
Partly sunny and
chilly
Mostly sunny and
chilly
Chilly with some
sun
Turning cloudy
32° 23°
37° 23°
37° 24°
38° 22°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
36° 24°
45° 32°
42° 29°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
36° 25°
44° 30°
43° 26°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
48/40
Kennewick Walla Walla
36/25
Lewiston
47/35
38/23
Astoria
50/38
43/28
40/23
Longview
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Pullman
Yakima 39/22
47/35
44/29
Portland
Hermiston
47/35
The Dalles 37/24
Salem
Corvallis
45/31
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
40/21
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
47/31
44/22
43/21
Ontario
39/17
39/15
39/10
0.00"
0.00"
0.11"
3.94"
4.95"
8.61"
WINDS (in mph)
Caldwell
Burns
41°
21°
43°
29°
70° (1941) -5° (1985)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
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Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
46/33
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 39/21
44/31
0.00"
0.00"
0.09"
12.19"
11.59"
11.60"
HERMISTON
Enterprise
32/23
40/27
37°
21°
41°
28°
67° (1975) 6° (1985)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
47/35
Aberdeen
38/24
37/26
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
49/40
Today
Fri.
VAR 2-4
W 4-8
ENE 3-6
N 4-8
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
51/31
sheep from both subspe-
cies are susceptible to many
types of bacteria and viruses
that cause potentially fatal
pneumonia. He said sheep
can be infected by nose-to-
nose contact with domestic
livestock, typically sheep or
goats.
Ratliff said the Myco-
plasma ovipneumoniae is
not known to be carried by
cattle.
There are domestic sheep
herds on private land in the
Durkee Valley within a few
miles of the mouth of the
Burnt River Canyon, Ratliff
said. None of those sheep
has been tested for the strain
of bacteria that infected the
bighorns.
Ratliff said domestic
sheep have lived near the
Burnt River Canyon since
ODFW reintroduced big-
horns to the canyon in 1987,
and there’s been no evidence
of widespread pneumonia in
the herd until this year.
Domestic sheep also
graze on a public land
allotment, overseen by the
Bureau of Land Manage-
ment, in the Lookout Moun-
tain unit, Ratliff said. He
said that allotment is actu-
ally closer to the Burnt River
Canyon herd, albeit with
Interstate 84 in between.
None of the domestic sheep
that graze on that allot-
ment has been tested for the
bacteria.
Sheep from two other
domestic fl ocks near Rich-
land, at the north end of
the Lookout Mountain unit,
were tested earlier this year
and none was carrying the
Mycoplasma ovipneumo-
niae bacteria, Ratliff said.
A llama owned by a resident
along the Snake River Road
was also tested, and was also
negative for the bacteria.
The owners of those ani-
mals volunteered for the
tests, which ODFW paid for,
Ratliff said. He welcomes
owners of sheep and goats
in either area to call the
ODFW offi ce at 541-523-
5832 if they’re interested in
Wallowa County fi shing rates
a bit lower than anticipated
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — The
Wallowa County fi sh-
ing forecast heading into
the winter season is not as
bright as what was hoped a
few weeks ago.
An email update from
Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife fi sh biol-
ogist Kyle Bratcher showed
several of the fi sh species
in the region currently are
returning at numbers that
are below average, though
there are some positives in
the forecast.
Bratcher said with the
exception of a few “strag-
glers” that may arrive, the
number of steelhead in area
waters has likely reached its
total.
“The Wallowa stock fi sh
didn’t come through the sys-
tem the way I would have
liked them to,” Bratcher
wrote in the Nov. 17 email.
“In September, I was orig-
inally projecting nearly
2,500 Wallowa fi sh to make
it over (Lower Granite
Dam). Unfortunately, we’re
coming in closer to 1,500.
As anyone fi shing on the
Grande Ronde (River) this
year can attest there aren’t
a lot of hatchery fi sh being
caught.”
Imnaha steelhead also
came through at a rate below
the average as Bratcher said
the number was near his
estimate of 1,278 from ear-
lier in the year. The number
is below the average, but,
Bratcher said, is well above
the roughly 850 from last
year.
The number of wild
steelhead at Lower Granite
Dam was a tick above orig-
inal projection, with just
more than 18,000 reaching
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
45/20
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
Last
7:18 a.m.
4:12 p.m.
7:02 p.m.
10:23 a.m.
New
First
Full
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 85° in Camarillo, Calif. Low -13° in West Yellowstone, Mont.
Dec 7
Dec 14
Dec 21
Dec 29
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
having animals tested.
Ratliff said it’s also plau-
sible the Baker County big-
horns were infected by con-
tact with other bighorn
sheep, possibly from Idaho.
The bottom line, he said,
is “we just don’t know” the
source of the bacteria that
infected the two bighorn
herds.
Ratliff is confi dent, how-
ever, in saying that what-
ever the source, sheep from
the Lookout Mountain herd
were infected fi rst.
Lookout Mountain big-
horns were infected some
time before Feb. 13, the day
biologists, responding to
a report from a passerby,
found a dead bighorn ram
lying on the Snake River
Road near Connor Creek,
about 18 miles north of
Huntington.
Ratliff said the fi rst evi-
dence of illness in Burnt
River Canyon bighorns
didn’t show up until October.
Although he acknowl-
edges it’s possible that big-
horns from each herd were
infected separately, from
different sources, Ratliff
said he thinks that’s highly
unlikely.
He’s skeptical of that
scenario largely because
evidence is mounting that
Burnt River Canyon and
Lookout Mountain bighorns
mingle more often than biol-
ogists had believed.
the dam, Bratcher wrote.
At the Grande Ronde
fi shery, Bratcher said catch
rates were between poor
and average, but Bratcher
said there were good sizes
among those being caught,
with several ranging from
27 to 30 inches. Catch rate
at the Imnaha, he said, will
be lower until February
2021.
Coho salmon numbers
are about one-third lower
than forecasted, with num-
bers crossing the Lower
Granite Dam closer to
1,400 as opposed to 2,100.
Bratcher said the reason
behind the lower numbers is
unknown.
And the Chinook run,
Bratcher said, will fi nish at
about 70% of the 10-year
average, with roughly
25,000 Chinook making
their way over the Lower
Granite Dam.
IN BRIEF
Figure in Oregon Republican
political circles dies in Salem
SALEM — Selma
Pierce, who was the Repub-
lican candidate for a seat in
the Oregon House of Rep-
resentatives this year and
whose husband was the
GOP candidate for gover-
nor in 2016, died after she
Pierce
was struck by a vehicle on
Tuesday, Dec. 1.
Salem Police Lt. Treven Upkes said in
a statement that Pierce, 66, was apparently
on the road when a Chevrolet SUV struck
her. The driver remained at the scene and is
cooperating with offi cers, Upkes said.
“The investigation is still ongoing, and
no further details will be released at this
time,” Upkes said.
Pierce’s husband, Bud Pierce, said:
“Selma Pierce, the glue of the Pierce fam-
ily, an angel of a person, the only woman
that I have ever loved, died this evening in
a sudden and tragic accident,” the Salem
Stateman Journal reported.
Hours earlier, he had announced he
would run for governor again in 2022. He
ran unsuccessfully as the Republican candi-
date in the 2016 gubernatorial special elec-
tion against Gov. Kate Brown.
Selma Pierce, a retired dentist, had also
sought public offi ce in recent years, running
twice for the Oregon House. She won the
Republican primary in 2018 and 2020, but
fell short of unseating incumbent Rep. Paul
Evans, D-Monmouth.
She also worked as a legislative aide for
the late Sen. Jackie Winters during the 2019
legislative session.
House Republican Leader Christine Dra-
zan, R-Canby, said in a statement: “House
Republicans were devastated to learn of
the tragic passing of Dr. Selma Pierce in an
accident earlier today. We are profoundly
saddened by this sudden loss of our friend
and community leader. Selma dedicated her
life to serving people.”
— Associated Press
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