Washington Hunter
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Bighorns' plight prompts lawsuit
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The government isn't doing enough to protect the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, a population numbering only in the hundreds, an environmental group said in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.
Among the most pressing concerns is the proximity of domestic sheep to bighorn habitat, a situation biologist fear is spreading diseases between the two populations, the Center for Biological Diversity said in its lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Sacramento.
The wild sheep live high in the Eastern Sierra, where they are threatened by mountain lions and genetic problems caused by inbreeding because of the small surviving population.
The environmental group wants the court to order the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to complete critical habitat and recovery plans for the sheep. It says the plans are six years overdue.
"We try to put as much of our resources as we can into recovery efforts, rather than into developing critical habitat designations that don't do a lot for a species," responded Al Donner, a spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service.
He said officials couldn't comment further because they hadn't seen the lawsuit.
Before the turn of the century, the number of wild bighorns in the Sierra numbered in the thousands.
Only about 100 survived as recently as 1998, a number that has crept up to around 300 today.
The lawsuit singled out as a particular problem the decision by the U.S. Forest Service to allow ranchers to graze domesticated sheep and goats on public land that the environmental group says is crucial to the survival of the wild sheep.
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The government isn't doing enough to protect the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, a population numbering only in the hundreds, an environmental group said in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.
Among the most pressing concerns is the proximity of domestic sheep to bighorn habitat, a situation biologist fear is spreading diseases between the two populations, the Center for Biological Diversity said in its lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Sacramento.
The wild sheep live high in the Eastern Sierra, where they are threatened by mountain lions and genetic problems caused by inbreeding because of the small surviving population.
The environmental group wants the court to order the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to complete critical habitat and recovery plans for the sheep. It says the plans are six years overdue.
"We try to put as much of our resources as we can into recovery efforts, rather than into developing critical habitat designations that don't do a lot for a species," responded Al Donner, a spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service.
He said officials couldn't comment further because they hadn't seen the lawsuit.
Before the turn of the century, the number of wild bighorns in the Sierra numbered in the thousands.
Only about 100 survived as recently as 1998, a number that has crept up to around 300 today.
The lawsuit singled out as a particular problem the decision by the U.S. Forest Service to allow ranchers to graze domesticated sheep and goats on public land that the environmental group says is crucial to the survival of the wild sheep.
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