Bozeman, Montana – The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF) has allocated over $1.22 million in conservation grants, most of which will be used to capture, test, GPS collar, and release nearly 600 wild sheep for its fiscal year 2022-23. Some of these captured sheep will be translocated to new habitats.
“We’re upping the game,” said Gray N. Thornton, President and CEO of the Wild Sheep Foundation. “Active management is the only way to put and keep more wild sheep on the mountain. With the threat of disease transmission, abundant predators, and low natural reproductive rates, there is too much stacked against our wild sheep to let the chips fall where they may.”
Between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, wild sheep projects in eight states and provinces will take place with several objectives, all aimed at maintaining the health of current populations and, where possible, moving surplus animals to augment struggling herds. One project is a three-state initiative in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington that will capture and sample 275 sheep.
“This is a multi-year, multi-jurisdictional adaptive management project to investigate further “test and remove” as a strategy to clear M.ovi from bighorn sheep populations,” explained Kevin Hurley, WSF’s VP of Conservation. In winter 2021-22, 249 bighorns in four populations were captured and tested in this tri-state project; during winter 2022-23, 275 sheep in seven populations will be tested.
M.ovi is a deadly respiratory pathogen inflicting wild sheep transferred by animal-to-animal contact with domestic sheep or other infected bighorns. Those wild sheep testing positive for the pathogen are often pro-actively euthanized.
“Test and remove has preliminarily proven effective in ridding a population of this re-occurring killer of both lambs and adults.” Hurley continued. “Still, when every animal matters, it is heart-wrenching to have to remove even one wild sheep. On the brighter side, this process also helps ensure our agency partners are not moving infected sheep and introducing M.ovi into new areas.”
WSF will host a full-day Test & Remove workshop during its annual Sheep Show® Convention and Expo slated for January 11-14, 2023, in Reno, Nevada.
“The real heroes here are those passionate wild sheep hunter-conservationists who unselfishly gave so we could fund these grants, including our members, Chapters and Affiliates, industry partners, and our expert state, provincial, territorial and tribal/First Nation agency partners who do the work on-the-ground,” Thornton concluded.
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The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), based in Bozeman, Mont., was founded in 1977 by wild sheep conservationists and enthusiasts. With a membership of more than 10,400 worldwide, WSF is the premier advocate for wild sheep and other mountain wildlife and their habitats. WSF has raised and expended more than $140 million on wild sheep habitat and population enhancements, education, and conservation advocacy programs in North America, Europe, and Asia to “Put and Keep Wild Sheep On the Mountain”®. These and other efforts have increased bighorn sheep populations in North America from historic lows in the 1950-60s of 25,000 to more than 85,000 today. www.wildsheepfoundation.org.
