By Tracie Mitchell
Staff Writer 

Wyoming Game and Fish relocate 24 bighorn sheep Saturday

 

February 22, 2017

Tracie Mitchell

A bighorn sheep ewe, held by volunteers has her eyes covered to help reduce stress and make her health check-up go as smoothly as possible during the bighorn sheep capture Saturday at the Kane Boat Ramp near Lovell.

LOVELL – Saturday morning the Wyoming Game and Fish and the Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation worked together to capture and health check 20 bighorn sheep ewes, three young rams and a ram lamb from the Devil's Canyon herd near Lovell before relocating the animals to the Ferris-Seminoe herd near Rawlins.

A second bighorn sheep capture is schedule for today to gather another 14 ewes and two young rams for a total of 40 being relocated. The 40 animals from the Devil's Canyon herd will help increase the numbers of the Ferris-Seminoe herd and continue to restore sheep to their historic range.

Unfortunately, two sheep did not survive Saturday's relocation. "We did lose two ewes during the transplant efforts that were conducted on Saturday. That is certainly not a desired outcome but there is an inherent risk associated with capture efforts. Normally the capture mortality rate is very low and certainly we feel that the benefits far outweigh the risks. In general we do everything that we can to minimize the stress and control those risk factors associated with these capture efforts," Wyoming Game and Fish Information and Education Specialist Tara Hodges said.

According to the Wyoming Game and Fish the objective number of animals for the Devil's Canyon herd is around 175 and during a July 2016 flight 263 sheep were counted. The object number of animals in the Ferris-Seminoe herd is 300 and the current estimate is 130-150.

The sheep were captured using a helicopter net-gunning operation. Wyoming Game and Fish Lander Region Wildlife Biologist Greg Hiatt explained that the helicopter follows behind the herd and that a mugger shoots the net onto a sheep. The net basically trips the animal up long enough for the mugger to jump out of the helicopter, give the sheep a sedative, cover its eyes and hobble the animal before loading it into a canvas-type bag to be carried below the helicopter to the loading area.

The helicopter, on average, brought four sheep at a time to the loading area. Once left at the loading area, volunteers, Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation members and Wyoming Game and Fish personnel processed the animals to make sure that they were healthy before loading them into a horse trailer for the next step of their journey.

"The sheep are checked for disease by taking blood and fecal samples and the nasal cavity and the tonsils are swabbed. Ewes are checked for pregnancy using ultra sound and all sheep are fitted with radio collars and given an ear tag," Wyoming Game and Fish Greybull Region Wildlife Biologist Leslie Schreiber stated. The sheep are then given an additional sedative for the trailer ride, she added.

Upon being loaded into the horse trailer the sheep's eye covering and hobbles were removed to make the relocation as easy on the animals as possible. Upon reaching their destination the animals are released together as a small herd. Schreiber stated that once the relocated sheep find the existing herd the two will combine to make one herd.

The Devil's Canyon and Ferris-Seminoe herds are no strangers to relocation. According to the Wyoming Game and Fish:

- First transplant occurred in 1973 in the Devil's Canyon

- In December 2004, 20 bighorn sheep (14 ewes, three rams and three lambs) from Oregon were released in the Devil's Canyon area.

- In January 2006, 20 sheep from Montana were released into the Devil's Canyon area.

- In December 2009, Game and Fish released 20 bighorn sheep (five rams and 15 ewes) into the Seminoe Mountains north of Sinclair that were obtained from the Diablo Rim/Coglan Buttes bighorn sheep herds near Paisley, Oregon.

- In January 2010, 12 bighorn sheep (three rams and nine ewes) were captured from the Devil's Canyon area and released on the southeast side of Seminoe Mountains to supplement an existing herd. In December of 2010, 20 bighorn sheep from the John Day in northern Oregon were also released on the southeast side of the Seminoes.

- In March 2015, 25 sheep (21 ewes, three rams and one lamb) were captured and transplanted to Seminoe Mountains.

- In February 2016, 25 bighorn sheep (21 ewes, three rams and one lamb) from the Devil's Canyon herd were captured. Twenty-four (one capture mortality occurred) were transported to the Ferris-Seminoe herd unit north of Rawlins and released in Miner's Canyon on the east end of the Ferris Mountains.

Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation board secretary Dean Dijenno stated that the Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation helped fund the project by donating $20,000. According to their website https://www.wyomingwildsheep.org/index.asp, "The Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation is one of 21 state and provincial chapters and affiliates of the Wild Sheep Foundation, whose purpose is 'to promote and enhance increasing populations of indigenous wild sheep on the North American continent, to safeguard against the decline or extinction of such species, and to fund programs for professional management of these populations, keeping all administrative costs to a minimum.'"

 
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