[Disease monitoring in European mouflon (Ovis gmelini musimon) populations by clinical blood tests--aspects of epidemiology and treatment control of claw diseases]. / Bestandsmonitoring beim Muffelwild (Ovis gmelini musimon) mittels klinischer Blutuntersuchungen--ein Beitrag zur Epidemiologie und zur Behandlung von Klauenerkrankungen bei dieser Tierart.

ABSTRACT

European mouflon are in the focus of research since they were brought from the Tyrrhenic islands to the European mainland a hundred years ago. From the beginning many populations on European mainland suffer from different claw diseases which are unknown in their original habitats. Foot rot, the ovine purulent laminitis, whose existence im wild ruminants was negotiated some years before, furthermore claw alterations caused by primary or secondary lack of trace elements similar to the copper deficiency syndrome of the boreal deer species moose and reindeer and finally horn hyperplasia with a genetic background are found as main claw diseases in Central Europe. Object of this study was the acquiring of clinical parameters from blood for the installation of a mouflon-specific diagnostic profile "claw diseases". Count of leucocytes (WBC), activity of Alkaline phosphatase, serum contents of phosphorus, iron, copper and zinc were found to be parameters for successful differential diagnosis and control of progress in cure programs.