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Pneumonia strikes bighorn sheep
By EVE BYRON
Independent Record
HELENA - Two more dead Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep were found in the Elkhorn Mountains on Monday, raising the total to at least 10 that have died from pneumonia and prompting concerns about a potential die off of the herd.
"In the worst-case scenario, based on similar situations throughout the West, we could see what's called an all-age die off, " Tom Carlsen, a wildlife biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said Tuesday. "That's because we're seeing adult sheep die as well as younger ones. It can kill almost all of the population. This wouldn't be the first die-off in Montana."
Last month, eight bighorn sheep reportedly died in Colorado from pneumonia; New Mexico had an outbreak in 2006.
"These are things we as professional biologists and scientists spend a lifetime looking at those, and we don't know what causes them to contract this," Carlsen said. There have been studies done "with wild and domestic sheep together, and almost without exception, when wild sheep and domestic sheep come together, the wild sheep die from pneumonia." He doesn't know if the wild bighorn sheep happened to mingle with domestic sheep in this case, noting that stress factors, like drought or interaction with humans, can prompt the pneumonia bacteria to surface.
But two ranchers have permits to graze sheep on Bureau of Land Management property in the Elkhorns, so Carlsen suspects some interaction took place. He noted that as a wild herd grows, the younger rams tend to wander afar and often get in with the domestic sheep, then they return to the wild herd and can bring the highly contagious disease with them.
By EVE BYRON
Independent Record
HELENA - Two more dead Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep were found in the Elkhorn Mountains on Monday, raising the total to at least 10 that have died from pneumonia and prompting concerns about a potential die off of the herd.
"In the worst-case scenario, based on similar situations throughout the West, we could see what's called an all-age die off, " Tom Carlsen, a wildlife biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said Tuesday. "That's because we're seeing adult sheep die as well as younger ones. It can kill almost all of the population. This wouldn't be the first die-off in Montana."
Last month, eight bighorn sheep reportedly died in Colorado from pneumonia; New Mexico had an outbreak in 2006.
"These are things we as professional biologists and scientists spend a lifetime looking at those, and we don't know what causes them to contract this," Carlsen said. There have been studies done "with wild and domestic sheep together, and almost without exception, when wild sheep and domestic sheep come together, the wild sheep die from pneumonia." He doesn't know if the wild bighorn sheep happened to mingle with domestic sheep in this case, noting that stress factors, like drought or interaction with humans, can prompt the pneumonia bacteria to surface.
But two ranchers have permits to graze sheep on Bureau of Land Management property in the Elkhorns, so Carlsen suspects some interaction took place. He noted that as a wild herd grows, the younger rams tend to wander afar and often get in with the domestic sheep, then they return to the wild herd and can bring the highly contagious disease with them.
