J. D. Wehausen
H. B. Ernest
R. S. Singer
A. M. Pauli
H. Kinde
Tonie E. Rocke
V. C. Bleich
P. K. Swift
2000
<p><span>During a routine telemetry flight of the Mojave Desert (California, USA) in August 1995, mortality signals were detected from two of 12 radio-collared female desert bighorn sheep (</span><i>Ovis canadensis</i><span>) in the vicinity of Old Dad Peak in San Bernardino County (California). A series of field investigations determined that at least 45 bighorn sheep had died near two artificial water catchments (guzzlers), including 13 bighorn sheep which had presumably drowned in a guzzler tank. Samples from water contaminated by decomposing bighorn sheep carcasses and hemolyzed blood from a fresh bighorn sheep carcass were tested for the presence of pesticides, heavy metals, strychnine, blue-green algae, </span><i>Clostridium botulinum</i><span> toxin, ethylene glycol, nitrates, nitrites, sodium, and salts. Mouse bioassay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay detected type C botulinum toxin in the hemolyzed blood and in fly larvae and pupae. This, coupled with negative results from other analyses, led us to conclude that type C botulinum poisoning was most likely responsible for the mortality of bighorn sheep outside the guzzler tank.</span></p>
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10.7589/0090-3558-36.1.184
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Wildlife Disease Association
Desert bighorn sheep mortality due to presumptive type C botulism in California
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