100 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



GASTRO-ENTERITIS OF UNGULATES. 



Of the medical conditions which have been treated, by far the 

 most frequent and fatal was acute gastro-enteritis, which pre- 

 vailed during the hot days of middle and later summer, mainly 

 among our western deer and moose, and was not altogether 

 absent at times from the elk herd. From this disease alone, 

 notwithstanding what we considered the most rational and pains- 

 taking adjustment of their diet and entire surroundings, treat- 

 ment, etc., we lost our entire collection of moose ; mainly within 

 the thirty days preceding September loth. 



Up to and during the first week of intense summer heat, this 

 herd, with the exceptions of horn development (which was some- 

 what deficient), gave every visible evidence of vigorous diges- 

 tion, and abundance of good health and contentment in their 

 installation. Their illness was first marked by want of cohesion, 

 form, and color in the intestinal excretions, which contained 

 much mucus — a condition seldom giving more than the slight- 

 est and most temporary response to the best-known disinfectants 

 and astringents, and which invariably gravitated into acute and 

 persistent diarrhoea. The appetite and rumination alike dimin- 

 ished rapidly, and soon ceased entirely. Emaciation and weak- 

 ness, with great apathy, quickly supervened, death usually being 

 preceded by a period of coma. Such, in short, were the symp- 

 toms exhibited by all animals which were lost within the Park 

 from this particular disease. The most desirable changes of diet 

 known to us were made for these animals, including the limited 

 and unlimited use of mixed browse, which, with the construction 

 of special bathing-ponds, shower-baths, etc., while appearing to 

 give unquestionable additions to their comfort, failed to give 

 the animals that degree of safety for which we had so ardently 

 hoped. While the western deer suffered from this disease, and 

 exhibited the same symptoms, it may be noted that the onslaught 

 of the malady was less rapidly fatal in its consequences among 

 them, than we have noted as affecting the moose ; the course hav- 

 ing been approximately twelve to fifteen days in the deer, as 

 against five to seven in the moose. 



Post-mortem examination of all animals lost, after exhibiting 

 the characteristic symptoms of this disease, revealed the one 

 common condition of diffuse congestion and inflammation of the 

 ahomasum (true stomach), and to a somewhat lesser degree the 



