MYSTERIOUS DISEASE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19846, 21 May 1927, Page 14 (Supplement)

MYSTERIOUS DISEASE

BLIND CHAM.QIS TRAGEDY. Climbers in the Alps report a mysterious disease aincng; chamois, many of which have been discovered dead at the foot of precipes A'ith their eyes veiled by a curious filnh Q.lf skin. A party of Swiss Alpinists, climbing a mountain recently above Chateau d’Oex, saw a 'herd of chamois slowly ascending a neighbouring mountain with a slow and i stumbling gait. “The animals k’Mf’W that.we were in itheir vicinity, an.£ 4,hat therefore they were in danger,” sauid one of the party, [“but instead of bounding away they climbed slowly. The leader of the herd, a fine bick., constantly looked back to see whether he was followed. He choose the easiest route possible, but was obliged 4<o jump over an opening in the rocks;. We saw. to our surprise, a number- •of animals fall in the gap, which was; <tnXy a few feet wide. , Thirty feet fe ai lorrmal jump for a chamois. We'discov<ered that the fallen animals were Hiiind.. ’’ ■’ Veterinary surgeons have enmjinedl a number of the affected chameite, b/at cannot recount for the disease.