Domestic sheep and goats prohibited…

[jackelope]

https://wdfw.wa.gov/newsroom/news-release/domestic-sheep-and-goats-prohibited-select-areas-wdfw-managed-lands-early-2023-protect-bighorn-sheep


Domestic sheep and goats prohibited in select areas of WDFW-managed lands in early 2023 to protect bighorn sheep

“The rule applies to select units of the Asotin Creek, Chelan, Chief Joseph, Colockum, Columbia Basin, L.T. Murray, Oak Creek, Scotch Creek, Sinlahekin, Wells, Wenas, and W.T. Wooten wildlife areas, and goes into effect in February 2023.”

Now if we could get the forest service on board …

[LDennis24]

Yep nothing wrong with that! Sorry for the goat packers though.

[trophyhunt]

Let people use e-bikes instead of goats then…..

[actionshooter]

Yep nothing wrong with that! Sorry for the goat packers though.

 Ya, tell me about it... 
This doesn't affect me in a specific area yet, but I'm afraid this will just be the beginning..

[huntnnw]

Pretty lame as domestic sheep and someone who owns pack goats are completely different .

[pianoman9701]

Pretty lame as domestic sheep and someone who owns pack goats are completely different .

Maybe not.
https://www.usgs.gov/diseases-of-terrestrial-wildlife/bighorn-sheep-pneumonia

[huntnnw]

Huge difference in grazing sheep and a person who owns a closed herd of pack goats and is tested. Our herd is 100% movi free.  Even if someone owned a pack goat with movi the transmission of movi to a bighorn sheep is almost none . Hell mt goats can carry movi, mule deer.

[HikerHunter]

Let people use e-bikes instead of goats then…..

What is WDFW policy for e-bikes on their land?

[pianoman9701]

Huge difference in grazing sheep and a person who owns a closed herd of pack goats and is tested. Our herd is 100% movi free.  Even if someone owned a pack goat with movi the transmission of movi to a bighorn sheep is almost none . Hell mt goats can carry movi, mule deer.

A tested string of pack goats should be exempted. But with the present Commission, forget it. They will hurt hunting any way they can.

[WAcoueshunter]

A tested string of pack goats should be exempted.

Wouldn't really work.  Tested one day, exposed the next.  Animals bought and sold, etc. 

[huntnnw]

All the pack goat people we know test yearly only if new goats brought in. If your herd is not exposed to new animals then no testing needed. Lot of mis-information out there on movi and goats. They just rather blanket it all and not read the science that’s there. Bighorn sheep cant catch movi just because a goat was in the area. There has to be physical touching face to face

[jackelope]

@ramslam
Got any insight here as to the relevance of the pack goat stuff in terms of the danger to wild sheep?

[Knocker of rocks]

A tested string of pack goats should be exempted.

Plus a goat mask mandate?

[LDennis24]

All the pack goat people we know test yearly only if new goats brought in. If your herd is not exposed to new animals then no testing needed. Lot of mis-information out there on movi and goats. They just rather blanket it all and not read the science that’s there. Bighorn sheep can catch movi just because a goat was in the area. There has to be physical touching face to face

Sorry but I have to say this is not accurate information. Movi is transmissible from sneezing and any fluid secretions from animal to animal. So if your animal sneezes a wad of snot onto a rock and less than an hour later a sheep happens by and sniffs that fluid they can get the virus. And it has been found in pack goats before. And also moose and mule deer. It's just not nearly as common.

[actionshooter]

All the pack goat people we know test yearly only if new goats brought in. If your herd is not exposed to new animals then no testing needed. Lot of mis-information out there on movi and goats. They just rather blanket it all and not read the science that’s there. Bighorn sheep can catch movi just because a goat was in the area. There has to be physical touching face to face

Sorry but I have to say this is not accurate information. Movi is transmissible from sneezing and any fluid secretions from animal to animal. So if your animal sneezes a wad of snot onto a rock and less than an hour later a sheep happens by and sniffs that fluid they can get the virus. And it has been found in pack goats before. And also moose and mule deer. It's just not nearly as common.

On paper it "could" happen, still there hasn't ever been a documented case in the US of packgoats transmitting disease to wild sheep or goats. Domestic sheep is a whole different subject and packgoats  got lumped in.  Packgoats aren't a new thing and this argument has been going on for decades outside of Washington. I am not opposed to yearly testing and vet checks if required by the WDFW.... but as everyone has seen lately, the game commission/WDFW aren't going listen to hunters.
This reminds me of the knee jerk hysteria that was COVID.