DEH GAH GOT'IE KUE/FORT PROVIDENCE - An outbreak of anthrax may have been discovered among bison in the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary.

Four bison carcasses were discovered on Aug. 13 and since then six more have been found.

The carcasses have been treated with chemicals and burned, and samples were sent to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency lab in Lethbridge, Alta., for testing for anthrax.

"We haven't confirmed it's anthrax yet because we haven't got the results back from the lab," said Ella Stinson, a spokesperson for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. "We're kind of waiting in limbo right now."

The carcasses were found within four kilometres of each other, about 27 km northwest of Fort Providence in the area of Mills Lake. They were spotted by aerial surveys.

The last anthrax outbreak in the sanctuary was in 1993.

There has been one confirmed anthrax outbreak in the NWT this summer.

The outbreak in the Slave River Lowlands, about 80 km southeast of Fort Resolution, was declared over on Aug. 10 after killing 45 bison.

Meanwhile, results of testing had not yet returned as of late last week on samples from dead bison found in Wood Buffalo National Park.

Two carcasses were discovered within a day of each other in late July off Highway 5, about 140 km northwest of Fort Smith.

One other dead bison was later found in roughly the same area. That carcass was not tested, but it was burned as a precaution like the other two dead bison.

Earlier this month, another bison carcass was found along the Pine Lake Road in the Alberta section of the park, but no samples were taken for testing because of the advanced stage of decomposition.

Two other carcasses were also found in the far southern part of the park in the Peace-Athabasca Delta area. Samples were taken for testing.

The last anthrax outbreak in the park was in 2007.

Bison can contract the disease from spores in the ground while wallowing in dust.

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