Sheep Die-Off Prompts Hunting District Closure
Montana’s Fish & Wildlife Commission today closed a bighorn sheep hunting district near Gardiner due to an ongoing disease-related die-off.
The emergency action came in response to a pneumonia die-off that began late last year in bighorn sheep hunting district 305, near Gardiner. So far at least 34 sheep from the native herd have died.
Wildlife biologists who conducted an aerial survey of the area Sunday counted 55 bighorn sheep—found another dead animal and a number of sick ones—where 89 healthy sheep were counted last year.
“The disease event is not over yet,” said Karen Loveless, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ wildlife biologist in Livingston. Read more