Free: Contests & Raffles.
Lions are not a bigger issue. Whole herds of 60+ are getting wiped out. I have a minor in Range Management, and I'm ok with grazing and even public land allotments. However, domestic sheep have no place being close to bighorns.The adults die from the disease, but sometimes they don't and they harbor the disease. They then pass it on to the young who are susceptible and the young all die. When the adults all die eventually, the population is not replenishing themselves. This is a huge problem all over, not just in Hell's Canyon and the Blue Mountains. This just happens to be one of the best place for the sheep and they are all dead or dying. We use to give out 10+ permits down in the southeast corner of the state and now we give out 1. The whole population is gone. It has been suggested we kill all the bighorns and start over re-populating the area. At this point it might be the best idea. These areas and Hell's Canyon weren't even at carrying capacity for sheep. This area can hold tons of big rams. History has shown us that this is one of the best habitats for sheep there in North America. Who do we write to? Let's start with our game agencies. But most of them know the problems. They make big money off sheep and they are controlled by our politicians. We need to write our politicians in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. At this point, the specific people should be determined and we need to start fixing this problem. I need to invite someone with more statisitics and information on the issue to this thread. Maybe we can get Ramslam on here and see if he can help us discuss the issue further. I have further information I can provide if I go look at some of my sources. The last time I heard, Idaho was dragging their feet the most. I just want people to be aware of this issue. I like elk, but no matter how many the tribes kill we still have tons of elk in this state. Bighorns, however, are limited and we lost about half the population and nobody blinked an eye.
pneumonia
Its a bacteria or bacterium. I believe it was a mycoplasma. Similiar to our Mycoplasma Pneumonia if I remember right.
The epizootic pneumonia outbreaks in bighorn sheep are caused by Pasteurella haemolytica, which evolved with Old World sheep, and which is endemic in them (both wild and domestic species) and causes no major disease issues for them. New World sheep lack exposure and immunity to P. haemolytica, and once exposed can remain dormant in individuals until they are stressed; then the disease breaks out, is highly infectious, and will kill 50-90+% of a bighorn herd. So far, no bighorns have developed immunity, though after 140 years of exposure some are more resistant than others (that just means the outbreaks and die-offs are less frequent). Outbreaks kill all sex and age classes.A second cause is lungworm, also an Old World sheep disease, which also causes pneumonia. In herds with lungworm, lambs will be born and adults aren't usually affected - but all or most lambs will die before winter. Herds eventually blink out as the adults die and aren't replaced. So far, the only effective measure is spatial separation. Even then, when subadult rams wander and disperse, they often come into contact domestic sheep or goats, and then present the danger they will bringthe infection to a bighorn herd. Thus, most of not all wild sheep states' wildlife agencies have policies that bighorns that contact domestic sheep should be killed ASAP (or, in the case of WA, killed if they cannot be captured and quarantined). There's no state law against having domestic sheep in an occupied bighorn range, unfortunately. Forest Service and BLM both have policies that are supposed to prevent commingling, but then politics creep into the mix.
