Another bighorn sheep has died in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson — this one killed by a mountain lion, the Arizona Game and Fish Department reported.
The GPS collar on the bighorn, a ewe, sent a signal indicating a mortality on Tuesday, Sept. 6, and the animal’s carcass was discovered the following day, according to the department.
Agency officials said hunters won’t pursue the mountain lion as they have in some cases when lions killed bighorns.
“Tracks at the site indicated it was a female lion with young kitten(s), so pursuit of the lion responsible for this kill was not initiated,” said a department report.
The death reduces the number of collared bighorns known to be alive in the Catalinas to 34. Officials estimate that the population could total as many as 79 sheep including animals released without collars, those whose collars have dropped off and those born in the Catalinas.
The department plans to conduct an aerial and ground survey of bighorns in the range in late September. It’s part of an ongoing effort to rebuild a bighorn herd that disappeared from the Catalinas in the 1990s.
