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CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Keeping tabs on elusive bison
More than a dozen bison are now being electronically tracked across Buffalo Pound Provincial Park in Saskatchewan. People who pop into the park's visitor centre can view the bisons' real-time location on a project will also help with researching the grazing patterns of the bison and how they interact with their environment.
CTV News
4 hours ago
- CTV News
Dementia in cats mimics human Alzheimer's, researchers find
A male cat named Chris curiously peaks out of his cage at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Montreal, Que., on Friday, June 27, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi A new study has found that humans and cats develop dementia in similar ways, offering what scientists say are new opportunities to research conditions like Alzheimer's disease. The study by a team of U.K. neurological and veterinary researchers examined the brains of 25 cats donated to science after their deaths, including eight that previously showed signs of cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS), also known as feline dementia. Brain scans of older and CDS-affected cats showed the build-up of amyloid-beta, a misfolded protein commonly associated with Alzheimer's. Researchers say the protein can cause damage to the synapses that carry information through the brain. Once overloaded with excess protein, synapses become inflamed and even destroyed in an immune response called 'synaptic pruning,' which ultimately worsens dementia. Amyloid-beta build-up in the feline brain samples 'mirror(ed)' conditions seen in Alzheimer's patients, the study found, suggesting that parallel research into treatments could benefit both species. 'If we can successfully develop treatments for treating cat dementia, these might also be more successful at treating human dementia, and also, the opposite's true,' said lead researcher Robert McGeachan in a Thursday interview. Dementia in cats Feline and human dementia show similar symptoms, including memory loss and cognitive decline. Pet owners may notice their cats are more anxious, vocal and visibly confused as they age, with unusual sleep or social patterns and increasing difficulty keeping clean. One study estimated that more than one in four cats over the age of 11 showed signs of feline CDS, a proportion that rose to one in two after age 15. Though age-related decline in cats is widely known, the discovery that CDS shares similarities with human dementia could prove helpful in shedding light on Alzheimer's — which McGeachan notes is notoriously difficult to study and treat. 'We've been studying it for decades, we spent billions and billions of dollars in research, and ... compared to other disorders, the progress has been fairly slow and fairly poor,' he told 'One argument that's always discussed is that actually, the models we're using aren't very good. They don't accurately, kind of, replicate the disease process in humans.' Previous animal research has focused on mice, which do not develop Alzheimer's-like symptoms on their own, unless they are first genetically modified. This means that much of the progress made hasn't easily translated to human medicine. 'We're very good at treating Alzheimer's disease in mice … but (treatments have) failed in clinical trials, when they've been started to be used in humans,' McGeachan said. Cats, meanwhile, experience cognitive decline naturally, and what's more, domestic pets encounter much of the same environmental factors as their owners, making the research that much more transferable. McGeachan notes that amyloid beta build-up can occur in other animals like dogs, cattle, sheep, monkeys and even dolphins, but the link with possible dementia symptoms hasn't been confirmed in all species, just yet. Future research, he says, could explore parallels in other species or involve more longitudinal study of cats living with CDS as they age. 'Feline dementia is so distressing for the cat and for its person,' said study co-author Danièlle Gunn-Moore, in a release. 'It is by undertaking studies like this that we will understand how best to treat them.'
CBC
5 hours ago
- CBC
B.C. First Nations launch drug trial to combat mange in declining bighorn sheep population
Social Sharing Residents of the South Okanagan in B.C. have noticed an increase in psoroptic mange, a parasitic skin disease, among the area's bighorn sheep. A decline in their population is prompting a new study. Research for the study, led by the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA), a First Nations tribal council, began in February and will continue until July 2026. The alliance says big horn sheep are woven into the history of the Syilx people, with their presence reflecting the health of the land and the balance between people and nature. The Syilx are indigenous to the Okanagan, and their territory reaches into the United States. The Wild Sheep Society of British Columbia is helping fund the research, which also involves a number of provincial and regional biologists. It says B.C. is home to some of the largest and most diverse populations of wild sheep in North America. Mackenzie Clarke, ONA Wildlife Program lead, says that all bighorns from Penticton down to the United States have the skin disease. "There's a little mite that eats away at that top surface layer. it causes weeping sores, scabs and build-up of really itchy skin, so the sheep can't stop itching … they have a lot of hair loss," she told CBC's Daybreak South. Hair loss and hearing loss, because mites build up crust inside of sheep's ears, can have fatal outcomes, she says. Some sheep die due to exposure during the winter when they lose their hair, and hearing loss makes the sheep vulnerable to predators and vehicles on the road. Clarke says that researchers believe psoroptic mange here originated from a domestic rabbit farm in B.C. During a previous trial, genetic testing was done on the sheep, and researchers say they are certain the disease came from a domestic rabbit farm that was in close proximity to the sheep. She says that no wild rabbits in the area have the disease and that the domestic rabbit farm doesn't exist anymore. "It can switch between hosts, so that's why we're wanting to kick off this drug trial now, if we can, to try to get a treatment for it, before it does potentially host switch again," she said. Mange medication trial Bighorn sheep were captured, and two different drugs are being tested to see which is more effective in mitigating mange and which lasts longer. Fluralaner and moxidectin are the drugs, sourced from Australia. The Penticton Indian Band, a partner in the project, is holding the sheep. A previous mange mitigation trial from 2016 that also happened within the Penticton Indian Band was an inspiration for this study, says Clarke. She says that fluralaner was used in the previous mange trial and worked, and that moxidectin is used in the UK on domestic sheep. She says if the drugs work, all bighorn sheep in the South Okanagan will get it. Decline in bighorn sheep Psoroptic mange is limited to the South Okanagan area west of Penticton and was first detected there in 2011. Clarke says that since then, 60 per cent of bighorn sheep populations have declined. She hopes the study helps rejuvenate those numbers. Lia McKinnon shares those sentiments. McKinnon is a stewardship biologist with Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Society, an organization that focuses on wildlife restoration and has lived in the Okanagan for over 30 years. She told CBC News that the study "is amazing, there are so many threats to the bighorn sheep." Another threat to the sheep is pneumonia, which Clarke says the bighorn sheep in the South Okanagan also have. McKinnon remembers 90 per cent of the bighorn population "dying off" during the 90s because of a spike in pneumonia — the study hopes to address that issue as well, she says. "One really cool thing about the work being done is that it is being done by the Penticton Indian band in conjunction with the Okanagan Nation Alliance, and the province is involved.
