Domestic Sheep

  • Sheep dog bit woman while riding her bike and attacked another person’s dog. The dog had not been vaccinated. It is not uncommon for people to come into contact with sheep guard dogs while recreating on public lands and I have been told many times that these dogs are trained to not attack people. This may be…

  • This is the kind of depredation where the wolves need to be shot- This is unusual. Furthermore it took place on private land. Assuming there are no important facts left out of the story, these wolves should all be shot. . . .  a couple sidebars to this. 1. They need to get the pack…

  • Some folks certainly get a lot of helpings at the old government dinner table- Here’s the obscure news release on what seems to me an incredible program. I wonder which members of Congress were behind slipping this into the 2008 (the last Congress) Farm Bill?

  • Rocky Barker notes this morning the Western Watersheds now is busy trying to prevent the transmission of disease from domestic to wild sheep in Arizona. . . . some important additional information. WWP now has an office in Arizona. . . also an office in Montana (Missoula), and Wyoming, Utah and California. They have several…

  • After the Marie Bulgin scandal rocked the Bighorn world many of us had hoped that the issue of disease transmission from domestic sheep to bighorn sheep might be largely resolved in the public debate.  Recent news stories suggest otherwise. Likewise, there continues to be a lot of political posturing and spinning going on. Below are…

  • The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has nearly completed its requirement to develop “Best Management Practices” (BMPs) pursuant to Idaho legislation S1232.  Public land sheep ranchers hope that the BMPs will be sufficient to dissuade the Payette National Forest from shutting down domestic sheep ranching on the Payette Forest, a move necessary to protect…

  • The Idaho Department of Fish and Game was directed to work with domestic sheep producers to develop “best management practices” to keep bighorn and domestic sheep apart. The problem lies in the fact that history shows that it takes only one interaction between the two to transmit disease to bighorn sheep and that interaction can…

  • Although domestic sheep are not allowed to graze the Robb-Ledford Wildlife Management Area in SW Montana, they are permitted to spend a couple days “trailing across” it to summer pasture. This may be enough to pollute the area with sheep diseases that kill bighorn. Thankfully, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, at the request of Western…

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