This is from the AZ G&F Web site:
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Disease outbreak threatens bighorn sheep near Tucson

TUCSON – Arizona Game and Fish Department personnel are in the midst of a bighorn sheep roundup in the Silver Bell Mountains near Tucson. The biologists are capturing, treating and releasing desert bighorn sheep in mountains located on the Ironwood Forest National Monument in an effort to protect these native animals from an outbreak of pink eye, which can have fatal consequences if not treated.

Pink eye can lead to blindness—and that’s a big problem for a bighorn.

“Bighorn sheep don’t necessarily die from the disease directly. Bighorns inhabit areas with steep cliffs and most blind bighorns die either from falls or from mountain lion predation,” says Jim Heffelfinger, a Tucson-based Game and Fish Department biologist.

The captured animals are being given antibiotics to help them recover from the bacterial infection; the biologists are getting help from the University of Arizona Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

Jim deVos, a wildlife diseases expert with Arizona Game and Fish, says the bacterial infection in question, chlamydial conjunctivitis (kluh MID ee uhl kuhn juhnk tiv EYE tis), causes the animals’ corneas to turn white, blinding the animal. “The bacteria can be spread from flies landing on the eye of an infected animal and then landing on the eye of another animal. The

This outbreak of pink eye occurred three weeks after approximately 5,000 domestic goats were brought onto state lands on a grazing lease by a private firm. While biologists cannot definitely link the goats to the disease outbreak in sheep, deVos says the circumstances suggest a connection. “It is well known that domestic sheep readily transfer diseases to bighorn”, he says. “The goat-bighorn disease connection is not as well established, but goats can carry many diseases that have caused bighorn sheep die-offs.”

In conjunction with the capture and treatment effort, the Bureau of Land Management Tucson Field Office is organizing the removal of domestic goats trespassing onto the Ironwood Forest National Monument.

Game and Fish biologists say the bighorn sheep population in the Silver Bell Mountains is biologically and historically significant because it is the last naturally occurring bighorn population in the central part of Arizona and dates back to the Pleistocene era.

The Silver Bell Mountains are located approximately 30 miles northwest of Tucson.


A close-up photo shows the milky-white cornea that causes blindness in a bighorn sheep infected by a bacteria. Photo by the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

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Hey FixedPower,

Just wanted to let you know that the photo and info here, combined with others and addt'l info, helped to convince a Colorado developer to NOT use domestic goats, as had been planned and publicized. The developer was not aware of the problem nor the fact that a herd of bighorns was located just across the headwaters of the South Platte River from his development here in Colorado. Representatives of the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society (RMBS) met with the developer, educated him/them on the concern and issues and left their offices with assurances that goats wouldn't be used. They were apparently going to be brought in to eat thistle, etc. prior to construction. The Colorado Division of Wildlife was able to provide information on groundwater friendly herbicides which have been used in similar Front Range areas / situations. As such, the RMBS was able to offer an immediate alternative to accomplish the developer's goal, thus not just presenting an obstacle.

You never know when a post like this is going to help out somewhere. Thanks.