# Three bighorn sheep euthanized near Dickinson



## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

Three bighorn sheep euthanized

By JAMES MacPHERSON Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press - Wednesday, October 25, 2006
BISMARCK, N.D.

http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?pa ... =D8KVTQM81

Three bighorn sheep that biologists believe wandered from their Badlands herd have been euthanized after mingling with domestic sheep and goats.

The three male bighorns were shot Tuesday, about 30 miles southwest of Dickinson, said Brett Wiedmann, a bighorn sheep biologist with the state Game and Fish Department.

Bighorn sheep are susceptible to a respiratory infection from domestic sheep, Wiedmann said. The form of pneumonia is fatal to wild sheep, and is likely what killed dozens of Badlands bighorns in 1998, he said.

"It was an unfortunate but absolutely necessary action," Wiedmann said Wednesday. "Had these rams wandered into a healthy herd of bighorns and caused a massive die-off, it would have been a worse scenario" than killing the three rams.

Samples have been sent to the University of Idaho to test for the respiratory infection, Wiedmann said. Meat from the animals - a total of more than 150 pounds - was donated to the Sportsmen Against Hunger program, which helps feed the needy.

"The rams are perfectly healthy, from consumptive point of view," Wiedmann said. "It's definitely one of the best tasting game animals, and we didn't want the meat to go to waste."

Wiedmann said the three rams traveled more than 100 miles from a herd in Dunn County. Biologists tracked the animals for several days, moving through areas near Manning, Richardton, and the Dickinson airport, he said.

"(The rams) were moving at 25 to 30 miles a day, and came very close to domestic sheep and goats," Wiedmann said.

Bighorn sheep can get the respiratory infection from "nose-to-nose contact," Wiedmann said. The infection also can be spread though the air, he said.

The animals were killed by wildlife officials in Slope County, about 25 miles from a herd of bighorn sheep.

Two of the rams were 4 years old and one was 6, Wiedmann said. The animals likely were forced out of the Badlands herd by older breeding males, he said.

The rams' long journey "tells me they were concentrating on looking for ewes," Wiedmann said. Bighorn sheep can crossbreed with domestic sheep.

North Dakota has about 250 bighorn sheep located mostly in the Badlands, in the western part of the state. The numbers have rebounded in recent years after the die-off of about 150 bighorns in 1998, Wiedmann said.

Bighorn sheep are native to the state, but they were wiped out by 1905 because of over-hunting and disease. Wiedmann said the animals were reintroduced in North Dakota in 1956.


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## Sasha and Abby (May 11, 2004)

What a shame. :eyeroll:


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

I wonder why they couldn't have been quaranteened for a while then sent to one of our zoo's?


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