Letko, Anna http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6521-1285
Strugnell, Ben
Häfliger, Irene M. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5648-963X
Paris, Julia M. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0672-6844
Waine, Katie
Drögemüller, Cord http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9773-522X
Scholes, Sandra http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3422-5956
Funding for this research was provided by:
University of Bern
Article History
Received: 17 September 2020
Accepted: 23 October 2020
First Online: 6 November 2020
Compliance with ethical standards
:
: The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
: This study did not require official or institutional ethical approval as ‘non-experimental clinical veterinary practices’ are specifically excluded from being considered regulated procedures under The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act (ASPA), 1986, Section 2(8) (ExternalRef removed). The sheep were handled according to good ethical standards and all live animals were blood sampled by a veterinary surgeon (BS) for diagnostic purposes on the farm to determine the cause of the neurological disease. All other sampling was carried out postmortem on affected animals after euthanasia on humane grounds because of progressive neurological signs. The affected lambs were euthanized by intravenous injection of an overdose of sodium pentobarbital, performed by BS. The aim was to identify the cause of the congenital disorder and thereby improve the animal welfare situation on the farm by identifying the underlying genetic cause and preventing breeding of further cases. Written consent was obtained from the sheep owner.