AUSTRALIAN NEWS. EXTRAORDINARY MORTALITY AMONGST SHEEP.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 335, 19 January 1889, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN NEWS. EXTRAORDINARY MORTALITY AMONGST SHEEP.

The Minister of Mine's has received from the Government Veterinarian, Mr Stanley, a report respecting an outbreak of disease- tuAong . sheep lin tho Gundagai district, during .the months of November and December. -The first report on the subject received by the Department was from the district inspector, who stated" that numbers of travelling sheep were dying within _; n few inile3 of Gundaga 1 350 in onemob having succumbed to disease/ The' symptoms pointed to anthrax, but the local people "thought the deaths wero due to the -sheep having eaten poisoned weeds." The ground was examined, and the conclusion- arrived at was that the sheep had been poisoned through eating -the camomile p!a_nt._. It was afterwards found,- however, that th~e pTahfc "coTTttiined lro-poi&on. A little time. .afterwards about r 2,0D0 sheep out Qf-14>ppO died on the Gundagai river flats.* "AVearch was then inadefoi'^acfiscmbus plants ; but nothing was found excopt a thistle somewhat of tiro Scotch type, and this it was ascertained contained "nothingpoisonous ; b"ul Hr%v : as.Tndigeseible, and, if eaten ravenously,- Cntight' lead _to the death of some sheep. Anbfclaer lpfe of 200 sheep dietl'iH4>bjQL-aame locality; 1 'The inspector se^nt'sotne^ of the blood from tho" "first lot" of sheep to the Stock Department, -and it was found to contain unmistakable indications of anthrax. On the representations of Mr Mackinnon, M. L. A., Mr Stanley was^rit'-th Gundagai to report upon the matter, and he "finds that the whole of the circumstances point to the disease b^eing anthrax. Tne thistles, which appeared to" be the object of suspicion in the local minds are not, he says, in any way poisonous ; but it is quite possible that starving sheep might die from overfeeding "t&em. The local inspector has been instructed to warn stock-owners' to keep their flocks off the infected mound.