World's largest group of buffalo threatened

1990/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

An Advisory Council advises the Canadian government that to avoid diseases in livestock, all buffalo must die. In total, there are 3200 animals that must die. Just knowing this advice, the opposing criteria have appeared; for example, Valerius Geist, of the University of Calgary, has defined the previous council as "insufficient science".

These animals live free in an area of 44800 km2, but some are sick. In particular, bovine tuberculosis and bovine brucellosis are the most common diseases. According to University of Saskatchewan veterinarian Gary Wobeter, bovine tuberculosis causes respiratory problems and brucellosis causes reproductive problems. If these diseases extend to livestock, farmers can suffer huge damage.

Therefore, faced with the opposition of interests in this issue, the Canadian government has not made any decision.