Pneumonia hits bighorn population
Source: Agencies |
October 4, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ACROSS the northern Rocky Mountains in the United States, bighorn sheep are dying by the hundreds from pneumonia, and alarmed wildlife officials are hunting and culling the majestic animals to halt the spread of the disease.
Since winter, nine disease outbreaks across five states in the West have claimed nearly 1,000 bighorns, prized as a game animal for the prominent curled horns of the rams.
Researchers from Washington State University-Pullman confirmed what scientists long suspected - the cause of the infection is contact between the bighorns and domestic sheep.
Fewer than 100,000 bighorns are found in the wild today, compared with an estimated 1.2 million head at one time.
"The study proves what a lot of us suspected all along: that domestic sheep are the biggest management challenge to the restoration of wild sheep," said Kevin Hurley of Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Following the study, the Payette National Forest in western Idaho announced it was cutting its sheep grazing allotments by nearly 70 percent, angering sheep farmers. They fear it could sound the death knell to an industry beset by falling production and competition from imports.
Idaho sheep farmer Frank Shirts, said: "It's a bunch of baloney. They're going to put the Western sheep industry out of business."
Since winter, nine disease outbreaks across five states in the West have claimed nearly 1,000 bighorns, prized as a game animal for the prominent curled horns of the rams.
Researchers from Washington State University-Pullman confirmed what scientists long suspected - the cause of the infection is contact between the bighorns and domestic sheep.
Fewer than 100,000 bighorns are found in the wild today, compared with an estimated 1.2 million head at one time.
"The study proves what a lot of us suspected all along: that domestic sheep are the biggest management challenge to the restoration of wild sheep," said Kevin Hurley of Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Following the study, the Payette National Forest in western Idaho announced it was cutting its sheep grazing allotments by nearly 70 percent, angering sheep farmers. They fear it could sound the death knell to an industry beset by falling production and competition from imports.
Idaho sheep farmer Frank Shirts, said: "It's a bunch of baloney. They're going to put the Western sheep industry out of business."
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