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LibbyMt.com > News > January 2008 > 39 Bighorn sheep transplanted near Libby


Bighorn Sheep transplant. Photo by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record.
Bighorn Sheep transplant
Don Clark, president of the Libby Rod & Gun Club, holds up a tarp to allow several bighorn rams to escape from a trailer at Kootenai Falls Wildlife Management Area. The animals quickly headed for higher ground and bounded up the hillside through deep snow. Photos by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record.

Released. Photo by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record.
Released

Off they go. Photo by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record.
Off they go

Kootenai Valley Record. Photo by Kootenai Valley Record.
Kootenai Valley Record
39 Bighorn sheep transplanted near Libby
by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record
January 24, 2008

State wildlife officers bolstered the bighorn sheep herd at Kootenai Falls Wildlife Management Area last week with 39 animals captured at Wild Horse Island on Flathead Lake.

The sheep were netted by a professional helicopter capture group, then trucked to Libby for release over a two-day period.

Fourteen rams were transplanted on Tuesday, and 20 ewes and five lambs were captured and relocated on Wednesday.

Jerry Brown, a Libby-based wildlife biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, estimated the sheep population at Kootenai Falls at 75 to 85 animals prior to the arrival of the transplants. FWP’s goal is to restore the population to the 150 to 175 sheep that inhabited the area in the 1980s.

The population crashed for unknown reasons in 1994-95, then took a further hit with the harsh winter of 1996-97, Brown said.

“We have introduced other sheep here, but gradually they’re building back up,” he said.

Two dozen sheep were transplanted from Sun River in 2000, and 16 more were brought to Libby from Thompson Falls in 2004.

FWP has utilized the Wild Horse Island population as a nursery herd. Bighorn sheep populations around the state have been initiated or augmented with Wild Horse Island bighorn sheep over the years. Before the removal of the sheep to Libby last week, the population on the 2,500-acre island was estimated at 130 to 150 animals. Trapping and transplanting activities to manage the herd are typically initiated when the population reaches 100 animals.
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Editor’s Note: See the January 21, 2008 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, on Monday, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.


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