Bighorn Sheep © Ken Cole
Western Watersheds Project sues to prevent deadly disease spread to rare desert bighorn-
Western Watersheds Project has filed litigation against the US Forest Service in Arizona to prevent the trailing of domestic sheep that spread deadly disease over Forest Service lands that harbor bighorn sheep :
Western Watersheds Project filed suit in Federal Court in Tucson, Arizona to stop a large domestic sheep trailing operation in desert bighorn sheep habitat on the Tonto National Forest. Domestic sheep are a source of respiratory illness that can devastate wild bighorn sheep herds.
Sheep Drive Endangers Bighorns, Group Says – Courthouse News Service
The U.S. Forest Service will cause a “die-off” of bighorn sheep by its decision to allow private livestock companies to drive 12,000 domestic sheep across the Tonto and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests for a month, the Western Watersheds Project claims in Federal Court. The environmental group says domestic sheep “carry disease that is fatal” to bighorn sheep and any contact between the species could devastate the bighorns.
Brian Ertz
