Fourteen bighorn sheep were released in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson on Thursday morning as part of an ongoing effort to rebuild a herd that disappeared from the range in the 1990s.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department plans to release 16 more sheep into the Catalinas this morning. Those sheep — 12 ewes and four rams — were caught Thursday in the Plomosa Mountains near Quartzsite.
Wildlife officials acknowledged later Thursday that three rams died during the two captures, two on Wednesday in the Tonto National Forest and one during the Plomosa capture.
Mark Hart, a department spokesman, said one ram Wednesday suffered a broken leg during the capture and was euthanized. The other died while being airlifted in a sling tethered to a helicopter. The cause of that death is under investigation, Hart said, but it is likely related to the stress of being captured.
The cause of the ram’s death Thursday was being investigated.
“These deaths can and do happen from time to time,” Hart said. “We feel the loss of an individual sheep is more than compensated by re-establishment of a herd.”
Opponents of the relocations called for an immediate end to the bighorn project after news that three sheep died during this week’s captures.
“How many more lives will Game & Fish and its advisory committee allies sacrifice for this trophy-hunting-motivated project?” Ben Pachano, of Friends of Wild Animals, said in an email. “These capture and relocation operations have to stop.”
The group said the long-term outlook for the Catalina bighorns is poor because of a loss of habitat and human encroachment.
Hart said the sheep released Thursday, which were captured in the Tonto National Forest northeast of Phoenix, are intended to join 12 surviving bighorns from a group of 31 that were released in the Catalinas last November. The other animals from that initial transplant have died, most of them the victims of mountain lions. Three mountain lions have been killed for preying on sheep.
The release site in the Foothills was selected because it is near the Pusch Ridge habitat where the surviving sheep are living.
“They hit the ground running, and they’re headed in the right direction” toward rugged Pusch Ridge, Hart said. The department, with assistance from a citizens’ advisory committee, is overseeing the reintroduction effort.
“I’m overjoyed,” said Brian Dolan, a member of the advisory committee, after watching the bighorns burst out of a transport trailer and bound off toward the ridge. “All the stars were in alignment to get this second transplant today.”
Mike Quigley, another member of the advisory committee, said, “It’s a beautiful morning in the Catalinas and the bighorn sheep are back where they belong. They went right to the ridge.”
The bighorn release had a bit of celebrity flair as well-known wildlife expert Jack Hanna assisted by opening a door in the transport trailer.
Why was Hanna there?
“His production company contacted us looking for story ideas earlier this year,” Hart said. “We proposed this project and others.”
