Organism ID'd that may be killing bighorn sheep
It is a bacteria called mycoplasma ovipneumoniae. It is apparently common in domestic sheep and goats, but easily causes fatal pneumonia in bighorn sheep. Story Organism ID’d That May Be Killing Bighorn Sheep. By Keith Ridgler. AP. (as printed in the Seattle Post Intelligencer).
“All indications are that the domestics are passing diseases and killing off the bighorns,” said [Greg] Dyson [Hells Canyon Preservation Council]. “And the bighorns just can’t get a foothold to become re-established. There have been entire herds that have died off.”
In May a lawsuit by the Western Watersheds Project, and two other groups, forced the Forest Service to stop their planned turnout of domestic sheep into the range of the struggling bighorn in Hells Canyon on the Idaho/Oregon border.
If people want to see a more general restoration of bighorn sheep on their public lands, the bands of domestic sheep in these territories simply have to go.
See earlier stories.

Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
3 Responses to Organism ID'd that may be killing bighorn sheep
Subscribe to Blog via Email
Join 968 other subscribersRecent Posts
- Grizzlies Get A Win On Upper Green May 26, 2023
- Senator Daines Ill-advised Forest Management Advocacy May 25, 2023
- Save Our Sequoias Act–A Stealth Attack On NEPA, ESA and Our Sequoia Groves May 21, 2023
- Oregon’s Eagle Creek Wildfire–Six Years Later May 15, 2023
- Voluntary Grazing Retirement Could Reduce Wildfire In The West May 10, 2023
Recent Comments
- Jeff Hoffman on Senator Daines Ill-advised Forest Management Advocacy
- laurie on Grizzlies Get A Win On Upper Green
- Ida Lupine on Grizzlies Get A Win On Upper Green
- Jeff Hoffman on Grizzlies Get A Win On Upper Green
- Ida Lupine on Grizzlies Get A Win On Upper Green
- Ida Lupine on Grizzlies Get A Win On Upper Green
- Jeff Hoffman on Grizzlies Get A Win On Upper Green
- Maggie Frazier on Senator Daines Ill-advised Forest Management Advocacy
- Ida Lupine on Tribal Bison Slaughter Illegal?
- Jeff Hoffman on Save Our Sequoias Act–A Stealth Attack On NEPA, ESA and Our Sequoia Groves
- Ida Lupine on Save Our Sequoias Act–A Stealth Attack On NEPA, ESA and Our Sequoia Groves
- Jeff Hoffman on Save Our Sequoias Act–A Stealth Attack On NEPA, ESA and Our Sequoia Groves
- Maggie Frazier on Save Our Sequoias Act–A Stealth Attack On NEPA, ESA and Our Sequoia Groves
- Ida Lupine on Save Our Sequoias Act–A Stealth Attack On NEPA, ESA and Our Sequoia Groves
- Ida Lupine on Save Our Sequoias Act–A Stealth Attack On NEPA, ESA and Our Sequoia Groves
I have, on many occasions, heard livestock producers claim that they would never let their diseased livestock intermingle with wildlife. Basically they are making an argument against letting buffalo leave Yellowstone Park but when you see stories like this they are obviously lying.
I think it’s the case they won’t allow any risk that bison will infect livestock (even though the bison were originally infected by livestock), but if livestock infect wildlife, hey that’s just too damn bad!
And if people want to get some kind of idea of the horrible conditions and potential CATTLE TO WILDLIFE disease transmission associated with water sources on public lands that wildlife face every day, look at the photo Ralph posted here: http://wolves.wordpress.com/2007/07/03/dead-and-dying-cattle-litter-gila-region-drawing-mexican-wolves/ .
I wonder what effects drinking this manure and hormone implant excretion brine has on Sage Grouse, Antelope, Bighorn Sheep? No wonder research in Owyhee County that has never really seen the light of day due to agency fear of the cattlemen wreaking political vengeance showed that when cattle were turned out into an area, bighorns moved out …
It is not just the domestic sheep transmission of diseases from public lands grazing by sheep that affects bighorns – it is the presence of cattle, too.