Another bighorn sheep has died in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, state wildlife officials said.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department said the GPS collar on a ewe sent a mortality signal on Feb. 8. On Feb. 9, officials found her carcass, which had injuries consistent with a fall. The ewe’s body was also in poor condition and samples were taken to determine if she was suffering from a disease.
The ewe had been seen in mid-January and at that time she was having difficulty walking. The ewe was brought to the Catalinas in November 2015 as part of an effort to rebuild a herd that disappeared from the mountains in the 1990s.
Game and Fish reported that 45 bighorns with GPS collars are known to be alive. The actual number of surviving bighorns could be greater. That’s because GPS collars have fallen off some previously collared animals as they are designed to do when their power source runs out.
The agency also reported that as many as 13 lambs have been observed in the mountains. Five of the lambs were born to ewes released in 2013 and four lambs each were born to ewes released in the Catalinas in 2014 and 2015.
