ASOTIN CREEK – A helicopter flown by Jim Pope Jr. emerges from the tawny hills dividing the North Fork of Asotin Creek from the Lick Creek drainage.
Two bighorn sheep hang from a line trailing the Hughes 500. Pope gently lowers the bound and blindfolded sheep to a field, and a swarm of biologists, veterinarians and volunteers swoop in to carry the animals to a nearby processing station.
Once there, the workers quickly take a half-dozen samples from the sheep, fit each with a radio collar and ear tag and then transport them to a nearby release site. Soon the pair of ewes are bounding up the canyon to return to the rest of the herd.
The entire operation is part of the Hells Canyon Initiative, a partnership between Idaho, Oregon and Washington, the Foundation For North American Wild Sheep and the Oregon Hunters Association aimed at finding answers to a perplexing disease that continues to plague sheep in the region.
The effort began in 1997 and was slated to last 10 years. It was prompted after more than 100 bighorns in Hells Canyon died from the pneumonia-like disease, caused by the Pasteurella bacterium carried by domestic livestock that produces toxins deadly to wild sheep.
Wildlife biologist Frances Cassirer from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game says that despite progress, key questions remain about how the disease is triggered.
“I want an answer,” she says. “We definitely know a lot more and we can build on that work.”
Biologists from Idaho, Washington and Oregon are working this week to capture, sample and collar sheep not only from the Asotin Creek drainage but also from the Grand Ronde drainage near Troy, Ore., the Lostine and Imnaha river canyons in Oregon, Joseph Creek in Oregon and Hells Canyon itself in both Idaho and Oregon.
Many of the samples will be studied at the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine, which has an endowed chair dedicated to the study of wild sheep disease.
For an unknown reason, the herd at Asotin Creek has not been as susceptible to the disease as other herds. Cassirer says scientists will study the samples taken from the herd to determine if there is a reason.
“I think they are just lucky,” she says. Solving the mystery around the disease could help sheep everywhere, according to Pat Fowler, district wildlife biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife at Walla Walla. “It will be a giant leap forward. They are a very, very touchy species to manage.”
For now, managers try to keep wild sheep and domestic sheep separated. It is believed that domestic sheep carry the disease and keeping bighorns away from them can limit outbreaks.
But even when the animals are kept apart, wild sheep can struggle with the disease. Even after outbreaks have subsided, the illness continues to infect lambs, which makes it difficult for the herds to grow. Bighorn sheep are a highly sought-after species for trophy hunters.
Some hunters pay more than $100,000 for the opportunity to hunt trophy-quality rams. Hunting is strictly limited, with each state offering only a few tags each year. Some of the tags are given to organizations such as the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep, which auctions the tags to the highest bidders, or to local chapters of the group, which then raffle the tags. The money raised from the auctions and raffles is used to fund work like the sheep capture.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
