More AZ sheep found dead

[mullmann03]

Not sure how many people have followed this. In November 2013 AZ game & fish transplanted 31 desert bighorn sheep from Yuma to the Catalina mountains near Tucson. Four months later there are only 15 sheep left. The goal was to transplant 30 sheep for three years for a total cost of $600,000 and get the population around 100. The original sheep in this area all died off and they were hoping to reestablish the heard.

2 more bighorn sheep die in mountains near Tucson | azfamily.com Phoenix

I am all for the bighorn sheep and hope to draw a tag one day. I think trying to reestablish sheep in an area where hunting is off limits and where they have shown they can't survive due to human impact and too many predators is not the greatest of ideas. Just my two cents.

 

[Dosh]

AZGFD reported the majority of the deaths were from lion kill. Same problem with them on the Kofa range along with diminishing water. With 29 points it looks like the magic number is rising every year for a tag.

 

[snowpro440]

Too many cats in that area .....

 

[Topgun 30-06]

If they have lost 50% of the transplants in just 4 months, it tells me that they did not use too much thought in where they put them and it's a terrible waste of money and sheep! The cats must be really bad in that area if that is what has knocked them down that quick and their biologists should have known that from the get go and done some cat harvesting first!

 

[mullmann03]

I saw another comment from game and fish. They said just because of the large loss of sheep this project is not a failure.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

I saw another comment from game and fish. They said just because of the large loss of sheep this project is not a failure.

It will be when the other half are gone by the end of the year at that rate!

 

[catskinner]

I saw another comment from game and fish. They said just because of the large loss of sheep this project is not a failure.

Typical of a gov. agency to respond like that. When you spend other peoples money, I guess nothing matters.

 

[cowboy]

I saw another comment from game and fish. They said just because of the large loss of sheep this project is not a failure.

When I hear comments like this it just makes my blood boil - politics and wildlife just don't go together. I just hope my grandkids don't go into wildlife biology - at the rate we're politically headed it will be a waste of education, no one listens anyway.

 

[mullmann03]

They released 14 more sheep near tucson. One died during capturing and one was injured so it had to be euthanized. A lot of money still being dumped into this project.

 

[Punisher]

stop wasting sheep. transplant biologists. either they will fix the problem or be eaten by the lions.