Table 1.

Summary of bighorn sheep pathogen testing results and survival estimates in the treatment and control populations, 1 August 2014–8 April 2018. Individuals in the treatment population that had at least two tests and always tested positive after the first positive test were classified as chronic carriers and removed 13 March 2016. Proportions of chronic carriers are based only on individuals sampled at least two times. Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (Mo) carriage was detected through real‐time polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR), antibody status was determined through enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, and the presence of other pathogens was ascertained through culture and PCR. Survival estimates are presented with their respective 95% credible intervals (CI)

Population	Mo‐positive tests	Definitive chronic carriers	Intermittent carriers	Positive for Mo antibodies	Other pathogens detected	Adult survival estimate	Lamb survival estimate
Treatment (pre‐removal)	8 of 60 (13%)	2 of 22 (9%)	1 of 22 (5%)	18 of 24 (75%)	Bibersteinia trehalosi, Trueperella pyogenes, Mannheimia sp., Leukotoxigenic Pasteurella	Not estimated	Not estimated
Treatment (postremoval)	0 of 35 (0%)	0 of 9 (0%)	0 of 9 (0%)	10 of 20 (50)%	Bibersteinia trehalosi, Trueperella pyogenes, Mannheimia sp., Mannheimia haemolytica, Pastuerella sp.	94% CI = 77%–99%	77% CI = 26%–96%
Control	38 of 80 (48%)	2 of 20 (10%)	11 of 20 (55%)	49 of 57 (85%)	Bibersteinia trehalosi, Trueperella pyogenes, Mannheimia sp., Mannheimia haemolytica, Mannheimia glucosida, Leukotoxigenic Pasteurella	88% CI = 82%–92%	35% CI = 12%–62%