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FWP plans to kill seven rams on Wild Horse Island for study
By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian
KALISPELL - Seven bighorn sheep rams on Wild Horse Island will be killed next week, part of a statewide study into wildlife health and disease.
Officials at the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks expect to hunt down the selected rams on Feb. 28, weather permitting. They'll close the island to the public while they work.
Wild Horse is one of the largest islands in the country, with the waters of Flathead Lake wrapping around the 2,163-acre state park there. For years, wildlife biologists have captured many of the island's bighorns, using the population as a pool from which to augment sheep herds in other places.
Wild Horse sheep, in fact, are now found as far afield as Perma and Paradise, Hog Heaven and the Elkhorns, and are scattered along the Rocky Mountain Front.
Because the island's sheep are so often transported to other areas, biologists say the herd represents an important component in determining wild sheep health throughout the state.
Currently, FWP officials estimate the island is home to about 103 bighorns, with a minimum of 31 rams. In sheep dynamics, that population is “considered heavy to rams,” according to the department.
Biologists will select seven rams - of various ages - for the hunt. The carcasses, once shipped to a wildlife forensics laboratory, will be analyzed by a team that includes both state veterinary staff and university researchers.
Some meat, staffers said, will be distributed to local food banks.
The rest will go to a research center in Bozeman, where scientists will use tissue cultures to detect several wild sheep diseases, and to conduct research into pasturella.
The team - led by Dr. Mark Atkinson of FWP and including Dr. Dave Miller of Colorado State University, as well as Keith Aune and Neal Anderson, both of FWP - will conduct blood serology tests and adrenal gland stress tests.
Range health and nutrition will be explored by researching selenium levels in the sheep, officials said.
Researchers say the work should help them develop new methods for monitoring the health of wild sheep herds, and also will ensure that future transplants from Wild Horse Island are, in fact, healthy additions to herds elsewhere.
By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian
KALISPELL - Seven bighorn sheep rams on Wild Horse Island will be killed next week, part of a statewide study into wildlife health and disease.
Officials at the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks expect to hunt down the selected rams on Feb. 28, weather permitting. They'll close the island to the public while they work.
Wild Horse is one of the largest islands in the country, with the waters of Flathead Lake wrapping around the 2,163-acre state park there. For years, wildlife biologists have captured many of the island's bighorns, using the population as a pool from which to augment sheep herds in other places.
Wild Horse sheep, in fact, are now found as far afield as Perma and Paradise, Hog Heaven and the Elkhorns, and are scattered along the Rocky Mountain Front.
Because the island's sheep are so often transported to other areas, biologists say the herd represents an important component in determining wild sheep health throughout the state.
Currently, FWP officials estimate the island is home to about 103 bighorns, with a minimum of 31 rams. In sheep dynamics, that population is “considered heavy to rams,” according to the department.
Biologists will select seven rams - of various ages - for the hunt. The carcasses, once shipped to a wildlife forensics laboratory, will be analyzed by a team that includes both state veterinary staff and university researchers.
Some meat, staffers said, will be distributed to local food banks.
The rest will go to a research center in Bozeman, where scientists will use tissue cultures to detect several wild sheep diseases, and to conduct research into pasturella.
The team - led by Dr. Mark Atkinson of FWP and including Dr. Dave Miller of Colorado State University, as well as Keith Aune and Neal Anderson, both of FWP - will conduct blood serology tests and adrenal gland stress tests.
Range health and nutrition will be explored by researching selenium levels in the sheep, officials said.
Researchers say the work should help them develop new methods for monitoring the health of wild sheep herds, and also will ensure that future transplants from Wild Horse Island are, in fact, healthy additions to herds elsewhere.
