Dr. Bulgin Returns

 University of Idaho allows Dr. Marie Bulgin to return to her duties. I’m David Sparks and that story is next. Exactly one year ago, I interviewed Dr. Bulgin at the UI's Caine Veterinary Teaching and Research Center about the possibility of transmission of disease from domestic sheep to wild bighorns when and if the two populations intermingle in the wild. I am not a veterinary scientist, and know nothing about interspecies disease transmission, but I found Dr. Bulgin to be open.

 (Dr. Bulgin) “What domestic sheep people say is that you might have domestic sheep on the range but that doesn’t mean they’re in contact with the bighorns, and if there’s no contact then how can you say there’s transmission? The bighorn biologists say you can’t guarantee that there won’t be contact. The bighorns have been seen in domestic herds in the past and we know that occasionally a domestic sheep gets left on the range when they bring them off in the fall. The best thing to do to protect the bighorns is to just take all domestic sheep off of all public lands.”

 Her position on this hot topic along with her research landed her in hot water and she was suspended from her duties. After a 7 month investigation, Dr. Bulgin has been permitted to resume her position at the U of I