Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 14/00) - Partially decomposed bison carcasses found in Wood Buffalo National Park last weekend are thought to be part of the first outbreak of anthrax.

Park officials are calling the new discovery of 15 additional carcasses the third outbreak of the summer. But the condition of the carcasses, found in the Brousseau Creek area, suggest the animals died at about the same time as the first 49 dead animals found near Trident Creek in mid-July.

This latest find brings the number of anthrax-infected animals that have died in the park to 98 bison and two bears.

Mike Keizer, client and heritage services manager, said the latest group of carcasses were found by chance. It was firefighters sent to check out a forest fire south of the Peace River in the park who spotted the carcasses.

"The ones in the big clearings are easy to find but it's quite a challenge to identify them in thick forest," he said.

As a result of the find, the Brousseau Creek area has been closed off to tourists.

Keizer said he should know by the end of the month how the outbreak has affected overall tourism in the park.

"I've dealt with four calls and convinced them it's safe to come," Keizer said. "The frustrating thing for me is I'll never know who didn't call."

There are about 2,400 bison in the park, split into five herds. Two of the herds have been affected.

Recorded anthrax outbreaks in the area date back to 1962 when 863 animals died. Five years later, 180 were killed, 47 in 1978, 32 in 1991 and in 1993, 170 died of anthrax.

Why it happens remains a bit of a mystery.

"There's kind of a knowledge gap we're still trying to fill dealing with the outbreaks," Keizer said.

"It's not a disease that passes from bison to bison. The disease is a spore that lives in the ground and they're really hard to kill. As far as science knows they are brought out by environmental conditions."

The disease seems to strike during hot, humid weather.