Chat
03-24-2015, 10:59 PM
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.
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.