This is very sad news. I was able to spend some time with the Rock Creek bighorn herd this fall in the Lolo National Forest. They looked healthy and vibrant in October, but one thing I saw set off a big, fat white flag – bighorns eating in the same area that domestic sheep were using a day earlier. These are not large domestic sheep ranches, just little operations. But I’m guessing it’s enough to infect the bighorns. Bighorn sheep and domestic sheep do not mix.
Wildlife officials are absolutely confounded by this outbreak in various sheep herds around the northwest. As climate change gets worse, I feel we will see more disease cropping up, both for us and for wildlife. When you combine that with the pathogens introduced to native wildlife by cattle and domestic sheep, you have a stewing brew of just plain bad.
Did this one live? I came across him this fall at Rock Creek. I hope he’s still out there on those cliffs.
More discussion of this can be found over at Ralph Maughan’s Wildlife Blog.
