This winter, more than 70 bighorn sheep from one herd in Northern Nevada have died from pneumonia. Reno Public Radio’s Anh Gray reports that over the weekend, state wildlife officials took measures to ensure the disease won’t spread.
Onboard a helicopter, wildlife sharpshooters from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services eliminated the 24 remaining sheep from the diseased herd located in the Montana Mountains north of Winnemucca. Chris Healy is with the Nevada Department of Wildlife.
“If you can depopulate the area, and stop the spread of the pneumonia, and keep the healthy sheep healthy, you haven’t allowed the pneumonia to migrate south essentially,” Healy says.
With snow melting on the range, Healy says, unhealthy sheep would likely migrate endangering healthy herds just south of the Montana Mountains and in other areas. Healy says wildlife officials reached out to conservation groups.
“Nevada Bighorns Unlimited with chapters throughout the state, the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorns in Las Vegas, and some conservation organizations in Winnemucca, and let them know what we were doing and why we were doing it, and we actually have support of those non-government organizations,” Healy says.
Healy says this is the first time a herd has been depopulated in Nevada to protect other sheep but this method has been used by other Western states.
