Five wild horses captured near Haines Junction will be euthanized after testing positive for an incurable infectious disease.

The horses were diagnosed with equine infectious anemia, a disease characterized by anorexia, depression, weakness, hemorrhages under the tongue and eye, weight loss and sometimes death. It cannot be spread to humans.

"It's a virus that affects blood cells and causes weakness and can result in death,” Dr. Mary Vanderkop, chief veterinary officer with the Department of Environment, said in an interview Wednesday.

"It can be spread by a brush, or even by biting flies, if they have infected blood on their mouths.”

The horses have been running free in the area for several years, but had been migrating closer to the Alaska Highway over the winter.

"We responded to a call that horses were on the Alaska Highway and were becoming a potential public safety hazard,” said Kevin Bowers, agricultural development officer with the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources (EMR).

The animals were captured by an environmental protection officer and impounded.

When horses are impounded, the government is required to offer a 20-day period in which it places ads to locate the owners.

"We put notices out in Champagne, Takhini, Haines Junction, all over, to locate a potential owner, but after 20 days they became the de facto property of the Yukon government,” said Bowers.

The government often sells captured wild horses. Before doing so, it generally tests for EIA.

The federal government's Food Inspection Agency monitors the spread of equine infectious anemia and require that samples be sent to their labs for further testing.

While the tests were sent Outside, EMR advertised the animals for sale in the local media. When tests come back positive, there are generally two options: permanent quarantine or euthanization.

"We had several inquiries about the horses,” Bowers told the Star. "But 10 days later, we got the results back and had to inform people. They declined the offer.”

Advertising for the animals' sale before officials had the results of the test was a matter of money management, said Bowers.

"Holding them for extra time costs extra money,” he said. "It is unfortunate that the results came back positive but had they not, we would have been able to sell them. That's the rationale.”

Afterward, EMR chose to euthanize the animals.

The Canyon Creek area west of Whitehorse is a remote region. It's thought that the animals were far enough removed from domestic horses to prevent the spread of the disease.