Young Mountain Goats Suffering From Dangerous Skin Condition Around Juneau Area

From Alaska Public Media and KTOO in Juneau, concerning news about young mountain goats in the Juneau area that are getting dangerously sick from a contagious skin condition. Here are some details:

The infection, which can transfer to humans and pets, is called contagious ecthyma. Skin lesions form around the mouth, eyes and nose. It’s usually mild in humans and dogs, but it’s typically more severe and fatal in lambs and goat kids. 

Carl Koch is the Juneau area biologist at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He said a hiker found the third mountain goat kid dead on Perseverance Trail in mid-March. 

“It was on the trail in a steep area, and the hiker used sticks or something so that they didn’t touch it, and kind of shoved it over the edge so that nobody else’s dog would run into it,” he said.

In January, ADF&G euthanized a mountain goat kid with advanced stages of ecthyma that a hiker had found and taken home from the same trail. The month prior, another was found dead on the nearby Flume Trail.