Bighorns released into Lost River Range
by Anna Means
Free at last-- Bighorns bolt out of confinement into the freedom
of the Pahsimeroi mountains.
Anna Means photo
| Off they go, into their new digs. Anna Means photo |
|
Last weekend, several ewes and a few rams from Montana were released to claim this part of Idaho as their new home.
On Saturday, about 35 of the Sun River herd from Augusta, Montana, leaped out of the trailers where they’d been confined into the Pahsimeroi Valley’s wide open spaces. They wasted no time in heading for the hills and far away from the assorted humans witnessing the event.
A total of 62 sheep were gathered from the foothills near Augusta last week. Helicopters shot nets over those targeted for transplant. Each sheep was then taken to a central location where a team of veterinarians examined them and fit them with ear tags and radio collars.
Idaho and Montana fish and game staff, along with at least one volunteer from the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep (FNAWS) then trailered the animals down to Rock Springs in the Pahsimeroi Valley.
Another group took a second batch to Rock Creek on the Lost River side of the range.
This transplant opportunity came after the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks offered Idaho excess ewes from the Sun River herd. Bighorn sheep herds must periodically be reduced in size to keep them productive. If numbers get too high, the animals will over populate their habitat.
Jerry Walters, FNAWS, told the Messenger Bighorn populations have been dwindling over the past few years due to disease. FNAWS and Idaho Fish and Game have worked with domestic sheep permittees to reduce wild and domestic sheep intermingling, which promotes sickness in the wild herds.
Wildlife managers and advocates hope this new transplant effort will increase herds in historic range.
The transplant received a great deal of local support from both sides of the range. It came about from a cooperative effort between the Fish and Game, Lost River Ranger District (Forest Service), FNAWS and the Dubois Sheep Experiment Station.
The Sun River herd, according to Fish and Game’s Dale Toweill, has a long history of producing healthy, productive Bighorns.