BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A Washington State University wildlife disease researcher has produced an experimental vaccine that appears to have protected four bighorn sheep against deadly pneumonia.
Subramaniam Srikumaran (Sue-bra-mah-nee-um Srik-ooh-mah-ron), the WSU professor in Pullman, says his findings are a promising but concedes years of work remain to help protect wild bighorn herds from periodic die-offs that have plagued the species in Idaho.
Srikumaran’s research comes at a time when domestic sheep that roam the same habitat as bighorns are blamed for spreading disease to their more vulnerable wild cousins.
That’s led to federal managers closing sheep grazing allotments in Idaho’s Payette National Forest to protect the wild sheep, a move that’s made the region’s ranchers deeply angry at the federal government that they see as protecting wildlife over their families’ economic livelihoods.
