Efforts to rebuild a herd of bighorn sheep in the Catalina Mountains got a boost on Monday with the release of 29 additional bighorns in the range north of Tucson.
The 23 ewes and six rams, captured in mountains near Yuma, were brought to the Catalinas by truck and released into the Pusch Ridge Wilderness area.
Thatβs the area where 34 bighorns are known to survive from previous relocations to the range in 2013 and 2014.
Some two dozen of the previously relocated sheep have died β some from predation by mountain lions and some from pneumonia.
βWe had a very successful capture operation, so much so that we moved the release up by one day,β said Mark Hart, spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. The department, working in cooperation with a citizens advisory committee, is overseeing the effort to rebuild a herd that disappeared from the range in the 1990s.
βThey were definitely headed in the right direction,β Hart said after watching the bighorns bound off for the Pusch Ridge area, where most of the surviving bighorns have settled.
More ewes than rams are brought in during the relocations because, according to Hart, βThe more ewes you have, the more lambs youβll get. And the rams will breed with multiple ewes.β
Brian Dolan, a member of the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society who serves on the citizens advisory committee, had two words to sum up the dayβs events: βExcellent! Fulfillment.β
βSome call this inclement weather,β Dolan said as rain fell during the bighorn release. βBut actually itβs good weather for wildlife.β
WOBBLY RAM
Hart said 30 sheep were captured in the Yuma area, but one ram was not released on Monday because it appeared wobbly when it got to its feet.
βWeβre transferring the ram to our Adobe Mountain Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Phoenix,β Hart said. βIt doesnβt appear to be a broken bone or anything thatβs incapacitating. So weβre not looking at euthanizing it. It could be a good animal to place in a zoo.β
Hart also noted that the number of known surviving bighorns from previous releases was lowered from 35 to 34 after a hiker found the remains of a ram during the past week.
The ramβs GPS collar had βdefaultedβ in a way that failed to notify wildlife officers of the animalβs demise, he said.
PNEUMONIA CONCERNS
At least four and possibly five bighorns previously brought to the Catalinas have died of pneumonia this year, and wildlife officials have made efforts to minimize the risk of new cases.
βThese animals (released Monday) have resistance to pneumonia based on prior exposureβ in the mountains near Yuma, Hart said.
Thatβs it for now
βThe initial plan called for three releasesβ β in 2013, 2014 and 2015, Hart said.
βNothing is planned for next year at this point.β
But he added that βsupplemental releasesβ could be carried out depending on the health of the herd.