Chat
Just an FYI, on the Wallowa-Whitman Forest website it was just announced that the comment period for the Blue Mountain National Forest Draft LMP has been extended to August 15. That should give everyone a chance to write up some substantive comments. I would also encourage everyone planning to comment, to read the comment requirements on their FAQ page, as there are some specific criteria that need to be met before the Forest Service would be required to consider your comments.
Im not sure if this particular editorial on the subject of Packgoat disease carrying capacity has been shared on this site, but I figured I would provide the link anyways.
http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdf/10....002.63.119
The summary of the article was “Pasteurella spp may be transmitted when animals are in close proximity, particularly by nose-to-nose contact. Therefore, when domestic pack goats are in wildlife habitats, they should be managed to prevent contact with wild ruminants.”
I only bring this up because I worry that we in the packgoat community might be fighting the wrong fight. We keep suggesting in these forums that there is no conclusive evidence to connect the possibility of disease transfer between packgoats and BHS. Unfortunately, I believe that eventually there will be such evidence, and all the more so if we keep pushing for it. The biological similarities between all ruminants suggests that there will always be some level of risk of disease transfer between them. Therefore, we should stop trying to convince people that a goat cannot transfer a disease to a BHS, but rather focus on convincing them that the level of risk of such an event happening is SO LOW that it is not worth mitigating. And even if the risk were deemed too high to leave unmanaged, there are mitigation options available to a packgoat problem that would not be available to other grazing domestic herds. Namely, we would be willing as a community to adhere to rules or regulations requiring us to high-line, to keep our goats on leads all the time, to use GPS collars, etc. Objectively, if the ultimate goal is to ensure that no BHS ever comes within 60 feet of one of our goats, that is a manageable goal without banning our goats from the forests completely. I have even toyed around with the idea of using backpacking electric bear fences to create a perimeter around my camp. Not that it would be meant to keep my goats in, but rather in the (albeit highly unlikely) circumstance if a BHS came sniffing around, he would get a jolt from the fence long before he came in range of my goats.
So, lets make sure we pick the right arguments, the winning arguments that put us on the side of the BHS rather than make us appear ignorant and anti-wildlife.
Im not sure if this particular editorial on the subject of Packgoat disease carrying capacity has been shared on this site, but I figured I would provide the link anyways.
http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdf/10....002.63.119
The summary of the article was “Pasteurella spp may be transmitted when animals are in close proximity, particularly by nose-to-nose contact. Therefore, when domestic pack goats are in wildlife habitats, they should be managed to prevent contact with wild ruminants.”
I only bring this up because I worry that we in the packgoat community might be fighting the wrong fight. We keep suggesting in these forums that there is no conclusive evidence to connect the possibility of disease transfer between packgoats and BHS. Unfortunately, I believe that eventually there will be such evidence, and all the more so if we keep pushing for it. The biological similarities between all ruminants suggests that there will always be some level of risk of disease transfer between them. Therefore, we should stop trying to convince people that a goat cannot transfer a disease to a BHS, but rather focus on convincing them that the level of risk of such an event happening is SO LOW that it is not worth mitigating. And even if the risk were deemed too high to leave unmanaged, there are mitigation options available to a packgoat problem that would not be available to other grazing domestic herds. Namely, we would be willing as a community to adhere to rules or regulations requiring us to high-line, to keep our goats on leads all the time, to use GPS collars, etc. Objectively, if the ultimate goal is to ensure that no BHS ever comes within 60 feet of one of our goats, that is a manageable goal without banning our goats from the forests completely. I have even toyed around with the idea of using backpacking electric bear fences to create a perimeter around my camp. Not that it would be meant to keep my goats in, but rather in the (albeit highly unlikely) circumstance if a BHS came sniffing around, he would get a jolt from the fence long before he came in range of my goats.
So, lets make sure we pick the right arguments, the winning arguments that put us on the side of the BHS rather than make us appear ignorant and anti-wildlife.