Dr. Bulgin Resigns

 Dr. Bulgin packs it in…at least for a while. I’m David Sparks and I’ll be right back with Today’s Idaho Ag News. The story gets more bizarre by the day. “… “so far in the research we’ve done here, and we’ve done quite a bit of it, we haven’t been able to connect the pasteurella in domestic sheep with that that causes the die- offs in bighorn sheep.” Statements like that from Dr. Marie Bulgin, Coordinator of the Caine Veterinarian Teaching Center at the University of Idaho, have incurred controversy and tireless pursuit by fellow scientists, environmentalists and, of course, the press. The Idaho Statesman recently wrote that “. Unfortunately for Bulgin, science isn't supposed to pick sides. Science is supposed to gather evidence and let the facts serve as the guide. Somehow, for 15 years, Bulgin seemed unaware of research within her own shop,”

 But it gets even more strange. It turns out that Dr. Bulgin ignored research from her own daughter. An Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist cited a 1995 letter from Caine center researcher Jeanne M. Bulgin, Marie Bulgin's daughter. In it, Jeanne Bulgin confirms bacteria that contributed to a bighorn ram's death matched bacteria found in a domestic herd it had contacted. This Fish and Game biologist says his office has had the letter for years and that managers have used it to help bolster their argument that bighorns are vulnerable when they come into contact with domestic herds.

Dr. Bulgin just announced that she’s stepping away from all sheep related research.