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North Dakota Bighorn Sheep Pneumonia

Yep, very unfortunate! Hoping for a recovery, obviously. Our numbers have been devistated over the last few years regarding multiple species. Mule Deer, Moose, Pronghorn, and now this. Tough to be a big game hunter in ND.

Scott
 
So sad! I saw a dandy of a ram (190 class) come out of ND a couple of years ago.
 
Terrible news, seems like it wasn't long ago I read an article about sheep in ND getting hit by traffic as well.
http://bismarcktribune.com/news/sta...cle_4b8069b0-8a88-11e2-bebe-001a4bcf887a.html

but on a brighter note there was a new herd introduced in SD recently. I think these came from the same area as those released near Harrison, NE which I was able to attend a while back.
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/lo...cle_7629e423-af84-5c5a-be97-ad9c59c9f0cc.html

And the herd is doing well enough in SD for 3 tags to be issued.
http://news.sd.gov/newsitem.aspx?id=17068

This is the release I was able to attend in Nebraska a while back.
http://www.ammoland.com/2012/02/bighorn-sheep-released-into-pine-ridge-nebraska/#axzz3Szat0onN

And they are doing well
http://www.omaha.com/news/bighorn-s...cle_902ece25-2ba5-5e00-ace7-faa5bfc3c6c3.html

And Nebraska will issue 2 tags this year.
http://www.ammoland.com/2014/10/neb...bighorn-sheep-permits-for-2015/#axzz3Szat0onN
 
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Mother nature is a tough one to tangle with and might be 100s or 1000s of generations needed before the wild sheep evolve inherent protection against diseases carried by domesticated sheep and goats.

I am not scientist, biologist or anyone that will find the solution. My inclination is a vaccination is needed that can be distributed through food pellets dropped from helicopters so capture/release mortality is avoided.

Washington State University is doing some research and perhaps other universities are researching this issue hoping to find a viable way to prevent these die off events that generally require complete eradication of the herd that will otherwise face years of low lamb recruitment. Only after eradication can transplants be expected to thrive.

A vicious cycle of infection leading to the eradicate and transplant process.
 
IIRC the Univ. of Idaho Veterinarian school was working on a vaccine or some other preventative measure about 10yrs ago. I've sorta lost touch with the guy that told me that at the time though...
 
Seems like the ND sheep just have a terrible time with pneumonia. The deer are coming back pretty good though which is good to see with some great bucks being shot.
 
IIRC the Univ. of Idaho Veterinarian school was working on a vaccine or some other preventative measure about 10yrs ago. I've sorta lost touch with the guy that told me that at the time though...

WSU - Dr Sri and Dr. Bettin. The vaccine needs to be for woolies, not wildsheep.
 
To add insult to injury, the state had just transplanted sheep from a mine in Alberta in early 2014. These sheep were much closer to the breaks sheep in body size and horns. It hit them very hard. Unsure if any of them made it. It took the state over a year to secure the permits and authorizations to transport ungulates across an international border.

Sad.

http://bismarcktribune.com/lifestyl...cle_d53adb3e-9f24-11e3-8379-0019bb2963f4.html
 

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