SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon wildlife officials captured and relocated California bighorn sheep at several locations this week in an effort to restore the animal to its native range.
Twenty bighorns were released Friday on Bureau of Land Management land in the Klamath River Canyon, where they have not been seen since the 1940s. Meanwhile, 15 sheep captured in the Deschutes River Canyon will supplement existing herds at Alvord Peaks in Harney County, and 20 sheep captured in the John Day River Canyon went to an existing herd in Grant County.
In a statement, Don Whittaker of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said research shows it’s important to mix up the genetics of a herd. “Higher genetic diversity leads to better population performance, and we hope to see population increases, too,” he said.
Most of the sheep sent to the Klamath River Canyon were from the Branson Creek area of Grant County, where sheep were reintroduced in 2010. Wildlife managers removed those bighorns because there is a risk of disease transmission between wild and domestic sheep in that area, said Michelle Dennehy, a state Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman.