03/14/2026
Hello friends,
I have some sad and also VERY urgent and important news to share on this Friday evening.
I want to prefix this by saying that there has been no known exposure event with any of our clients, and where the one known exposure case seems to have originated is an area we do not take our packs. We actively avoid populated trails, especially ones with horses for the safety of our packs, as well of the horses and riders.
A client shared this information with me today and I feel it pertinent to share with all of you to hopefully prevent any more exposure, illness, or suffering.
WHAT WE KNOW CURRENTLY:
Tragically, on Friday March 5th, a dog succumbed to illness here on the Sunshine Coast, later testing positive on a PCR test for Canine Respiratory Coronavirus and Streptococcus Equi Zooepidemicus. This strain of strep is commonly known as Strangles in horses and spreads easily and rapidly via mucosal transfer, so anywhere an infected horse may have walked, sneezed, coughed, wiped its nose etc will carry the bacteria. It can be carried on clothing, boots, in puddles, on blades of grass, and in cold and damp environments it can live without a host for up to 6 weeks.
This bacterial virus is HIGHLY contagious, there is a vaccine for horses but currently there is no vaccine for dogs (or cats).
The dog had been out on a trail off of Day Road in Roberts Creek a day prior to symptoms appearing, which is a common local horse trail. Strep zoo affects the respiratory system and can cause a severe, hemorrhagic pneumonia in dogs that can be deadly if not treated quickly with responsive antibiotics. And by quickly I mean within 24-48hrs of a dog becoming symptomatic. From my understanding (I'll share studies at the end of this post for those curious to learn more) it seems it is most likely to be fatal when a dog presents it in pairing with another respiratory illness. So this is a great time to make sure your pet's vaccines are up to date!
It seems as though a horse that tested positive for this was brought to a farm in Roberts Creek at the beginning of December, with 4 other horses needing to be quarantined on the same farm.
https://equimanagement.com/news/edcc-health-watch/british-columbia-horse-tests-positive-for-strangles/
The dog's recent exposure is well outside the window of exposure from those horses, though horses can carry it asymptomatically, and this is very concerning to me. Having gathered the information that I have shared above, I am also emailing our local Conservation Officer, because while I cannot find documented cases of Strangles infecting wild ungulates, it is a highly contagious virus that affects many different species, including in rare instances humans. This means that we cannot rule out the possibility that the horse who tested positive has potentially exposed the local Elk herd who live in that area, or deer, keeping this a looming threat to not just horses in the area but any animal in the area.
In the meantime, do your best to protect your pup by avoiding any trails that are known to have horse riders (This means many of the upper Roberts Creek trails, off or around Lockyer) for the time being until more information is known. And PLEASE SHARE THIS to spread the word.
Please take good care and stay the heck away from the trails in upper Roberts Creek! I will update everyone if any new information comes available.
Reading sources if you're like me and have to learn as much as you can about things:
Easy read - https://www.aspcapro.org/strep-zoo-streptococcus-equi-subsp-zooepidemicus
More in depth (warning, surgical posthumous/necropsy photos included) - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7110628/
Further studies of interest - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378113524000816
