Oregon Bighorn Sheep Capture Continues Restoration Efforts for The Animal

By Vanessa Torres

Oregon -(Ammoland.com)- Bighorn sheep capture and transplant operations this week in eastern Oregon are continuing decades-long efforts to restore this rare native animal to its historic range.

Since the first California bighorn sheep were brought from Williams Lake, BC, Canada in the 1954, the population has grown to 3,500-3,700 among herds in southeast Oregon. Northeast Oregon’s Rocky Mountain sheep have grown to about 800 since the first successful transplant of 40 animals from Jasper National Park, Canada in 1971.

ODFW’s yearly capture and transplant operations help thin too-large herds, supplement herds that need more numbers and increase genetic diversity. This year, efforts focused on reducing the size of the I-84 herd. A total of 26 animals from the herd were relocated to the Diablo Mountain and Coglan Buttes herds in Lake County.

ODFW also captured 7 Rocky Mountain sheep in the Lookout Mountain Unit and transported them to Washington State as part of the Hells Canyon Initiative, a joint effort by state and federal agencies and sportsman groups to restore bighorn sheep in the area.

During the capture operations this week, a helicopter was …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand