LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Zoo has euthanized its entire herd of threatened Nubian ibex goats because they had an infectious and incurable strain of herpes.

KCBS-TV reports Wednesday that all seven of the Middle Eastern mountain goats were destroyed last month after the population contracted malignant cararrhal fever, or MCF.

The virus threatens hoofed animals such as goats and deer and can be lethal. Zoo officials decided the risk of it spreading to other species was too great.

It can’t be passed to humans.

The zoo told KABC-TV that the disease is no longer on zoo grounds and its other animals are safe.

Poaching and habitat loss have whittled the Nubian ibex population down to several thousand in the wild. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as threatened and vulnerable.