Pneumonia in bighorn sheep halts hunting near Yellowstone

[Saph]

Not sure what implications this will have for the future of Goat Packing in Wild Sheep Habitat. But I don't think it's good news from any aspect.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/...nting.html
The die-off of bighorn sheep from pneumonia led Montana wildlife managers on Monday to take the unusual step of abruptly closing a hunting season tied to a wild herd near Yellowstone National Park whose seasonal mating rituals attract scores of wildlife watchers.

The emergency closure came after state biologists estimated that pneumonia had claimed nearly 40 percent of a herd near Gardiner, Mont., whose numbers fell to 55 this month from 89 last year, state wildlife managers said.

Such pneumonia outbreaks have been linked to contact between wild sheep and domestic ones that graze across the Rocky Mountains.

More than 1 million bighorn sheep once roamed the region, but their numbers had fallen to just tens of thousands in the first decades of the 20th century because of unregulated hunting and disease, according to the Wild Sheep Foundation.

Wildlife managers in Montana and other Western states have renewed efforts in recent years to reintroduce wild sheep where disease and historical over-hunting pushed them close to extinction.

Bighorns are prized by sportsmen and wildlife watchers for their curled horns and for mating rituals in which rival rams crash horns after running at each other at speeds up to 40 mph.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Karen Loveless said at least 34 carcasses were counted.

[Nanno]

That's so sad. I feel like the most important thing for wildlife biologists to do right now is to concentrate on encouraging reproduction in those herds that appear resistant to pneumonia. I've read that there are a few herds out there that don't have these high losses. It seems to me that if the sheep can't fight this off themselves through stronger genetics, there's not much hope for them no matter what regulations are put in place to limit exposure to domestic animals.

[Taffy]

Amen to everything you just said Nanno.

[Charlie Horse]

Perhaps a breeding program. Add some genetics from other subspecies that can handle a germ here or there. Honestly, the way they are, every single pathogen works like a small-pox plague on natives. People fight for them because they're a native species. Fine. But like Australia, whats 'native' no longer applies since humans have spread a bazillion new species around. My prediction is that in 50,000 years (ignoring radioactive doomsday from 1000 Fukashimas) half the native species everywhere will be extinct, and replaced by something else from somewhere else. Then, in a million years, the new winners will have evolved better to suit the niche and someone would say that these critters are the 'natives' to be protected. Point is that nothing, nothing, nothing is going to set back the clock on the species spread that we've done. Carp in our lakes: Here to stay. Starlings: Here to stay. Tons of imported garden plants and trees: Here to stay. Africanized bees: Here to stay. Fire ants: Here to stay. Snakes and whatever: Here to stay. The horse: Here to stay (good!). Are the native mountain sheep here to stay? Somehow I kinda doubt it. They're less capable than the weird and awkward and designed-by-committee llama. Consider that 15,000 years ago something (I doubt humans) wiped out most of the large animals in N. America including elephants, giant sloth monsters, rhinos, horses (guarantee humans didn't do that considering a few Spanish horses repopulated the place easily while humans were well established), dire wolves, cave bears, saber tooth cats, giant elk, cheetah type cats, etc etc. How those mountain sheep survived is a mystery since they're so anti-hardy.

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

There is one thing you can count on and thats for state biologists to be completely ignorant in their studies. Even worse is, fish and game follows them around like they are preaching the gospels. It doesnt matter what the facts say. They just want their grant money.

Now here is an interesting question. What happens when the protected wild sheep start getting slaughtered by the protected wolves because the wolves have already decimated the elk and deer herds?...

[Nanno]

People fight for them because they're a native species. Fine. But like Australia, whats 'native' no longer applies since humans have spread a bazillion new species around...

I've always felt this way too. Humans aren't the only ones that spread species around either... nature has always done this herself in one way or another. What exactly qualifies as "native" and what makes "native" better than the plants and animals that were introduced and are now thriving? Is nature no longer allowed to evolve? I understand the foolishness and immorality of wantonly wiping out native species just to suit human needs, and I certainly advocate the idea of doing our best to preserve the wild species that were here before us. Yet there is also a time when you have to recognize that some species are not going to make it on their own even if you give them every opportunity. The world changes, and plants, animals, and even humans must adapt or eventually become extinct.

[wally]

Amen to that!