Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, July 30, 2007

FORT SMITH - An outbreak of anthrax has been confirmed in Wood Buffalo National Park.

Laboratory tests in Alberta revealed a dead buffalo found July 17 on the rugged Parson's Lake Road died from the disease.

As of Saturday, 18 other buffalo carcasses have been found, and it is being assumed they died from anthrax.

"We're still doing monitoring and aerial surveys to try to identify more carcasses," said Mike Keizer, the park's communications manager.

Since the first carcass was discovered, more have been found on Parson's Lake Road, along with others near the Pine Lake and Kettle Point access roads, all on the Alberta side of the border. One carcass was found 16-kilometres west of Pine Lake in the middle of the bush and six were found in the bush south of Parson's Lake Road.

Parson's Lake Road in Wood Buffalo National Park was closed because buffalo were killed by anthrax along the rugged route. Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Carcasses near visitor areas are treated with formaldehyde to ward of scavengers and predators, and then burned. The carcasses in the bush will be allowed to rot naturally.

Affected roads will be closed until all carcasses are burned.

At Pine Lake, the beach and campground were closed as of last week. However, cabin owners were allowed access to their properties on the lake.

All other facilities in the park remained open as of Saturday.

Keizer noted anthrax occurs naturally in parts of the park.

Anthrax in wildlife is caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis and spores can remain viable in soil for many years.

Under certain conditions, such as high water followed by hot and dry weather, the spores concentrate in low-lying areas. Bison contract the disease by inhaling contaminated soil while wallowing in the dust.

Keizer said the extent of the current outbreak is completely up to nature.

Eight anthrax outbreaks have occurred in the park since 1963. A 2001 outbreak in the remote Sweetgrass region killed 92 bison and one moose.

The park is home to about 5,400 wild bison.

Keizer said the park is safe to visit.

"Public safety is our number one concern," he said.

Keizer said, if a visitor comes across a dead buffalo, it should not be approached or touched. The person should leave the immediate area and contact park officials.

Dr. Andre Corriveau, the NWT's chief medical health officer, has been in contact with the park about the anthrax outbreak.

"I'm quite pleased with the way they're responding to this issue from a public health perspective," he said.

Corriveau noted there are no recorded cases in the NWT of humans being infected by anthrax.

As long as they stay away from carcasses, there is no danger to visitors to the park from anthrax, he added. "It won't jump onto them."

By touching carcasses, people can get skin infections from anthrax, he noted.

"It's not life threatening," he said, adding skin infections can be treated by antibiotics.

Theoretically, anthrax spores could be inhaled, cause a lung infection, move to the blood stream and cause death. However, a human would have to wallow in the dust like a bison for that to be even possible.

During the 2001 outbreak, the number of visitors to the park declined.

Clayton Burke, the owner of Fort Smith's Taiga Tour Company and a licensed outfitter in the park, noted six to eight bus tours would come to the town and park each summer prior to 2001, but that ended with the anthrax. Now, only an occasional bus tour arrives.

"It really does impact on tourism," said Burke, although he noted the number of visitors is also affected by the low American dollar, the high price of gas and the unpaved section of Highway 5.

Burke objects to some media coverage of anthrax outbreaks, saying it's treated like the end of the world when it's really just a naturally occurring disease.

"All it does is negate any marketing efforts we've been doing," he said.

Last week, Burke had one customer from France who was not deterred from visiting the park because of the anthrax.

The park normally has about 1,000 visitors a year.

Keizer, who is acting chair of the Fort Smith Tourism Advisory Board, is also concerned about the affect on tourism.

However, he noted two canoeists from Germany were undeterred from heading into the park last week after the anthrax situation was explained to them. With information, people are comfortable with continuing on with their trips," Keizer said.