Bighorn vs. Domestic Sheep

[wideone]

What is everyones thoughts on this? It will be interesting to see where the politics takes this one..
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IDAHO
?Cassia County Board of Commissioners voted to ask [Butch] Otter to relocate bighorn sheep from the South Hills near Twin Falls because of conflicts with domestic sheep.? Of course, Otter can't legally order this. The Idaho Fish and Game Commission can.


"One of the hottest wildlife issues this winter could be about bighorn sheep. You might remember last spring when U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered ranchers to move their sheep off of five allotments on the Payette National Forest in Hells Canyon to protect bighorns.

He ordered ranchers to keep their sheep off of another allotment on the Nez Perce Forest in November for the same reason. That has angered the sheep ranching community and headed it toward a political show-down with sportsmen and environmentalists.

Scientists have long believed that domestic sheep are responsible for infecting bighorn sheep with an pneumonia-like disease that can be quite devastating to bighorn populations. There is strong evidence that shows the wild sheep get sick and often die when the two species mix.

Ranchers are not convinced and many are bitter because bighorns were reintroduced into many areas that now environmentalists want the domestic sheep moved out. Ranchers even went along with the sportsmen groups at the time because they were told they would not have to move.

But disease continues to kill off bighorn sheep in Hells Canyon. Only 20 percent of the lambs in the herd survived in 2007, according to the Oregonian.

In response to lobbying by ranchers, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter asked the Idaho Department of Agriculture and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in October to assemble a working group to develop a statewide policy addressing issues of domestic sheep and bighorn sheep in Idaho. This panel held a meeting in December and another this week.

Cal Groen, Fish and Game?s director told me he is seeking a collaborative solution to the problem that protect bighorns and ranching. But that's going to be a tall order.

The Western Watersheds Project was involved in both lawsuits that led to the orders to move the sheep out of Hells Canyon and they plan to continue pursue legal action to move domestic sheep away from bighorn populations.

I spoke with Neil Thagart, spokesman for the 10,000-member Foundation for North American Wild Sheep in Cody, Wyo. last month and he said the only solution is to keep domestic sheep and bighorns apart.

The Idaho Woolgrowers Association may go to the Idaho Legislature for a solution. And Tuesday the Cassia County Board of Commissioners voted to ask Otter to relocate bighorn sheep from the South Hills near Twin Falls because of conflicts with domestic sheep.

This conflict epitomizes the changing values of the West. Scientists have not been able to resolve the health issue but ranchers long had the power to dictate how the issue would be handled.

Now, the value of bighorn sheep both for hunting and scenic enjoyment is turning the politics.

Bighorns, after all, are not wolves." Rocky Barker

 

[bobcatbess]

JACKMASTER ONCE TOLD ME!!!

IT DOESN'T MATTER RATHER ITS WILD OR DOMESTIC!!!

AS LONG AS HE CAN SNEAK UP BEHIND THEM!!!

THIS IS MY NEW GUN,YOU MAY NOT LIKE IT,YOU'LL LIKE IT A HELL OF A LOT LESS WHEN IT HITS ITS DESTINATION!!!

THE ONLY bobcat THAT KNOWS ALOT OF YOU HAVE HAD THIS IMAGE IN YOUR PEA BRAIN BUT DUE TO POOR SHOOTING TACTICS I'M STILL KICKIN!!!

 

[hotdiggity]

BOOM!!!! It's these non-native Utahian and Montanian big horns that are screwing up all the ranching in Idaho!!! Give them an inch and they'll take a mile!! I say it should be unlimited tags to control the populations.

 

[nochawk]

I just read an article that there were no lamb survival in the Hells Canyon herd last year, usual mortality is between 50 and 70%, so they lost a whole age class. I believe it was pneumonia again.

 

[IDdesertman]

Ummm... The only reason that "non-native" bighorns had to be used to transplant is because all the bighorns in these areas went extinct due to domestic sheep ranching. You could also say that sheep ranching is "screwing up" all the bighorn hunting in idaho...

 

[NVBighorn]

Read the responses to the guy's blog.

http://voices.idahostatesman.com/20...rn_domestic_sheep_conflict_could_blow_up_soon


Here's a good article to go with the one above.

Oregon wildlife biolgist says "Hells Canyon could provide habitat for 10,000 bighorns if die-offs can be prevented."

10,000 bighorns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that's what I'm talking about.


http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1199588103111520.xml&coll=7&thispage=1


Simple fact is this: you mix domestics with bighorns the bighorns die.

 

[nickman]

So...........who the hell needs domestic sheep anyway?

There's tons of food better than sheep meat....whatever it's called and I hardly own anything wool anymore either. And if these sheep are on Federal land leases....shut them off.

The guys from Montana still like them I guess;
Montana State Theme song; "Ewes Light Up My Life"
or maybe it was,
"There Will Never Be Another Ewe"

 

[elkguide]

I have heard this kind of thing a lot, but not sure if there is any hard evidence out there that shows that the domestic sheep is the sole cause of pneumonia in wild sheep. I am not siding with domestic sheep by no means and think that wild sheep when re-introduced into native areas should be given a chance to become well established and healthy. Here in Nevada I have seen some Rocky Mountain Bighorns running in close proximity to domestic sheep and haven't seen disease affect the bighorns yet, I think that the reason that disease starts affecting bighorns is they become stressed from hunting pressure or maybe pressure from the domestic sheep herd and predators that follow those domestics and in turn pneumonia starts running rampid through the wild sheep herds. Just my opinion, not sure how much it can be supported but what I know of wild sheep is they can not handle stress well at all and when pressured too much can have detrimental effects on the health of the herds.

 

[NVBighorn]

Elkguide, I believe you are correct. Domestics are not the only source of pastuerella that kills bighorns. And yes I agree that some other stress factor often triggers an outbreak in the wild sheep and can even trigger it without coming in contact with the domestics. But it is usually a kiss of death for the bighorns whenever there is an interaction between the two. I would be very interested to know which herd in Nevada you have seen the two in close proximity to each other. Any piece of the puzzle like that is valuable information. A few areas where it is believed domestic/bighorn interaction lead to a dieoff in bighorns in Nevada include:
Mormon Mountains circa 1980
Tobin Range late 90s
East Range late 90s
Ruby Mountains late 90s
Warner Mountains (California) late 90s

Then there is a dieoff happening right now and for the past several months in area 181 in Churchill County where no interaction appears to have happened.

Another area where it is not certain what caused a localized dieoff and what one believes depends on which camp you are from and which magazine you read is the Santa Rosas in Humboldt County.

There needs to be more work/study done on this and I am not advocating wiping domestics from puclic land. But I believe the two interest groups (sheep ranchers and wildlife biologists/sportsmen) need to cooperate and make honest attempts to keep the two animals separate. Each needs to stop being adversarial to each other and try to get hard evidence one way or the other without jeopardizing either. The future of each animal depends on it. I also believe that willing sellers of domestic sheep permits being compensated by sportsmans dollars is a viable way to go. If we want bighorns and can raise the money and domestic sheep operators want out of the business then there is an opportunity that needs to be explored.

FYI, there is currently a bighorn sheep working group in it's infancy here in Nevada that is looking at exactly this topic as well as others.

 

[elkguide]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-15-08 AT 09:18AM (MST)[p]NVBighorn I agree that we need to do something trying to minimize the amount of interaction between domestic and wild sheep. It is one piece of the puzzle that we can control to a certain point, at least it can minimize the detrimental affects of die offs to herds that cost so much money to re-introduce to historic, native areas. The herd that I am talking about where I have seen first hand domestic/wild sheep interaction is in eastern Nevada, in the Antelope Range. There aren't many bighorns over there and I have seen rams with ewes so I know that they are starting to become established in this area. I am not sure how or why these bighorns have moved into this area, but I am glad they have and hope that NDOW will leave them there and let them reproduce and become better established. I videoed a ram with a ewe this year over there on November 22nd, during the rut, so I know they are breeding. I believe that these bighorns have moved into this area from the Mt. Moriah herd. I have also herd from some people that they have seen one bighorn ram in this area down in the middle of a domestic sheep herd on the winter range and he was all rutted up, wether that is true or not I have no clue, but do know that a lot of domestics are run thoughout this area and the bighorns that are there seem to be doing well, and in good health, only time will tell though, but would like to see the amount of domestics run in this area lowered and the time they are run out there be reduced in order to minimize the interactions between them. I would love to see a study done in order to give more concrete evidence as too the domestic/bighorn interaction and think that it would be useful for agencies to have information like that in order to back their decisions for reducing domestic sheep grazing. PM me if you have any more questions, I will try and take some still photo's from my video and post them on here when I get time.

 

[NVBighorn]

Thanks for the info. That's interesting stuff. You're probably correct that those sheep came off Moriah. Hope they can become established. If they do however interact with the domestics let's hope they don't find their way back to Moriah just in case they carry a bug with them. Were they wearing any ear tags?

 

[kilbuc]

Loss of sheep from pnuemonia due to intraction of domestic/bighorn sheep has been documented by sevral Wildlife Vets from W/L Agencies since the 80's. At Washington State Vets were able to document losses in penned trials. In WY if a single or small group of wandering wild sheep interact with domestic sheep outside their normal range the wild sheep are killed. They don't want them to move back and infect the rest of the population.

from the "Heartland of Wyoming"