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The B.C. government has changed its regulations to give wildlife officers more power to kill escaped or abandoned domestic sheep in order to protect wild sheep populations.
In a statement, the province says it has changed how domestic sheep are classified under the Wildlife Act in order to prevent disease from being transmitted in what could be large-scale die-offs in wild herds.
Domestic sheep and wild sheep can contract many of the same infectious organisms, but their immune systems and resistance to disease differ.
A bacteria known as M. ovi, or Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, is commonly found in domestic sheep and goats and rarely causes illness, but it can lead to deadly cases of pneumonia in wild sheep.
A statement from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship says the bacteria can be transmitted through grazing, or sharing water or salt sources and once introduced, it can quickly spread through wild populations.
The ministry says the regulation changes also lists abandoning sheep on Crown land as an offence and allows it to assume ownership of the animals.
