From: http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/10/26/news/local/122802.txt

3 bighorn sheep are put down
By RICHARD HINTON
Bismarck Tribune

Three bighorn rams were euthanized Tuesday after the sheep came into contact with domestic sheep and goats, which can carry respiratory strains of bacteria that could lead to large scale die-offs of wild sheep.

NDGFD game wardens euthanized the sheep late Tuesday evening in Slope County.

"I recommended we euthanize them. If they got into the Badlands, we wouldn't know which rams they were. The consequence could be a massive die-off," Brett Wiedmann, North Dakota Game and Fish Department bighorn sheep biologist in Dickinson, said Wednesday. "I looked at it not as killing three rams, but potentially saving 100."

The rams, a 6-year-old and two 4-year-olds, were North Dakota-born and were moving 25 to 30 miles a day. The three rams are believed to have come from a herd in Dunn County and had wandered more than 100 miles.

"As soon as I knew they were within a mile (of domestic goats), I knew it was very likely they were close to those animals. At that point, I can't take the chance," Wiedmann said.

The wandering rams also were within 20 miles of one of the state's largest bighorn herds when they were euthanized.

"The fact that they were moving 25 to 30 miles a day could mean tomorrow they could be in with those sheep. I made the call," Wiedmann said.

The rams were euthanized in the area where four bighorn herds were lost to a die-off in the 1990s.

"It took so long to restore the sheep after the die-off. We have to eliminate the risk at all costs," Wiedmann said.

Game agencies throughout the western United States and Canada follow the same policy, Wiedmann added.

The 6-year-old probably led the younger rams astray, Wiedmann speculated.

"The 6-year-old was in a herd with bigger rams and was unable to breed," he said, adding that the 4-year-olds probably tagged along on its search for a ewe.

Samples from the rams were collected and sent to a University of Idaho laboratory for testing Wednesday.

"I cut up the rams last night. There are no health concerns, and big-game hunters prefer eating bighorn sheep," Wiedmann said.

The Minnesota-Wisconsin Chapter of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep will pay for processing, and the meat will be distributed by community action to needy families through Sportsmen Against Hunger.

"It's an unfortunate thing. I love sheep and would just as soon hunters take the rams," Wiedmann said, "but in a case like this, we are acting for the greater good."

(Reach outdoor writer Richard Hinton at 250-8256 or richard.hinton@;bismarcktribune.com.)

From: http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/11/03/news...ditorials/123274.txt

Bighorns vulnerable

There comes a point at which wildlife management crosses a boundary and becomes something else, because the animals are virtually dependent on being managed in an area of human activity.

This may be the case with the state's bighorn sheep population.

True, they aren't fenced in and their notable shyness causes them to avoid the encroachments of human activities in western North Dakota. Since the glorious animals were introduced in 1956 - not "reintroduced," because the native Audubon subspecies went extinct - the project has met with some success and several hard setbacks.

But maybe the time has arrived for the project to stand on its own four feet.

Nature will take its course and determine if the population is self-sustaining.

Last week, personnel of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department had to make an intervention, making the decision to euthanize three rams. In their wandering more than 100 miles from a herd in Dunn County all the way into Slope County, they apparently came close to or were in contact with domestic sheep or goats.

That was their death sentence. They were put down by their managers. It was done for the greater good of the tenuous population of bighorn sheep in the rugged southwestern part of the state. The traveling animals could have carried respiratory bacteria that could have spread rapidly in the herds in the new locale.

It was in the area of western North Dakota south of I-94 that there was a large-scale die-off of the bighorns in the late 1990s. Four herds died of disease.

The slow replacement rate through reproduction must be a source of frustration to the Game and Fish people. Over the years there have been frequent transfers of animals from herd to herd and from area to area. It's been necessary to receive transplanted bighorns of the California subspecies from Oregon and British Columbia, but only possible when those places had surplus sheep. It doesn't happen all the time.

The NDGFD acknowledges the animals are sensitive, prone to illnesses - especially if they come under any stress from human interlopers ranging from quiet mountain bikers to noisy oil rigs - and it truly is not known whether natural reproduction is enough to ensure the survival of the existing herds.

The animals are essentially wild, but are not necessarily self-maintaining North Dakota dwellers. That may be somewhat true of other animals, but certainly not to the degree that whitetail deer have made themselves right at home in an increasing range - too successfully, some might say.

It's not as if the bighorn should be abandoned to fate in a stroke. The program to manage them is expensive but produces benefits. It's deeply satisfying to have them where they are, no matter that few people ever get a chance at a sighting much less to hunt them. The licenses issued each year are in the single digits. One license is auctioned, with the proceeds used to help pay for the management. This year the license brought $49,500. It's not that we should begrudge the cost of maintaining them.

The difficulty is in answering: How much are they here because we are making them be here?