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Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/oct/17/elimination-tieton-bighorn-sheep-herd-complete/
Elimination of Tieton bighorn sheep herd complete
By SCOTT SANDSBERRY/Yakima Herald Republic
Published: October 17, 2013, 6:02 AM
The last of the Tieton bighorn sheep herd was shot and killed this week, seven months after members of the herd began showing up dead or dying along the Highway 12 corridor, victims of a particularly virulent strain of pneumonia.
But now, having contained one potentially disastrous disease outbreak that might have spread to neighboring herds, wildlife officials in this part of the state have another outbreak to worry about: a recurrence of the same disease that in 2010 killed dozens of bighorns in the Umtanum herd on the west side of the Yakima River Canyon.
Following that pneumonia outbreak, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials lethally removed as many as 90 more bighorns to keep the disease from spreading to the bighorns on the east side of the Yakima River.
But this year, after what regional wildlife manager Ted Clausing called ?two good lamb years? in 2011 and 2012 that had helped the herd?s population rebound to nearly its pre-outbreak numbers, this year?s lambs have experienced a significant dieoff...
Elimination of Tieton bighorn sheep herd complete
By SCOTT SANDSBERRY/Yakima Herald Republic
Published: October 17, 2013, 6:02 AM
The last of the Tieton bighorn sheep herd was shot and killed this week, seven months after members of the herd began showing up dead or dying along the Highway 12 corridor, victims of a particularly virulent strain of pneumonia.
But now, having contained one potentially disastrous disease outbreak that might have spread to neighboring herds, wildlife officials in this part of the state have another outbreak to worry about: a recurrence of the same disease that in 2010 killed dozens of bighorns in the Umtanum herd on the west side of the Yakima River Canyon.
Following that pneumonia outbreak, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials lethally removed as many as 90 more bighorns to keep the disease from spreading to the bighorns on the east side of the Yakima River.
But this year, after what regional wildlife manager Ted Clausing called ?two good lamb years? in 2011 and 2012 that had helped the herd?s population rebound to nearly its pre-outbreak numbers, this year?s lambs have experienced a significant dieoff...