Good News!!!

[PatrickJr]

I got to wondering about the Catalina bighorn sheep and i said to myself "gosh, i haven't heard a word about them in a while. so i went to the ADBSS website as was happy to read this.........

No mortalities occurred during this reporting period(4/14/14-4/27/14). The original release of 31 sheep consisted of 21 adult females or ewes, three yearling/juvenile ewes, five adult males or rams, and two yearling/juvenile rams. Thirty of the released sheep were outfitted with satellite GPS collars to provide managers with up to date information to help make adaptive, data-driven decisions. As of April 27, 2014, 13 of the remaining 14 collared sheep are known to be alive; one of the collars maybe malfunctioning. To date there have been 16 bighorn sheep mortalities. Fourteen of the sheep were killed by mountain lions, one died as the result of predation by an unidentified cat such as a small mountain lion or a bobcat, and another died from myopathy. To date, three lions associated with bighorn sheep kills have been removed, and the most recent of these lions was believed to have

killed multiple sheep.

and in addition.....To date five lambs have been observed during this season.

as i go further back into older updates.....a sheep death has not occurred since march 17!!!!

for any more info that i did not supply for you go to.... http://www.adbss.org/catalina_restoration_project.html

[Flatlander]

Glad to hear some good news coming out.

[AZ8]

You can't report that here. It's counterintuitive to the band of merry men and their death count.

[coatimundi01]

For somebody the best info, go on Facebook and like "Friends of Santa Catalina Bighorn Sheep" detailed and informative.

[tjhunt2]

Thanks Patrick for the information.

 

TJ

[Coues Kid]

Good to hear I was wondering how they were doing or if they were still alive.

[rossislider]

This email was released on Saturday:

 

 

Catalina Bighorn Sheep Project requires patience but moves in the right direction

May 10, 2014

 

 

Here is a link to an informative op-ed piece, "Bighorn sheep project needs patience but moves in right direction," posted on the Arizona Daily Star's website (May 8, 2014). The article was written by three members of the Catalina Bighorn Advisory Committee (Randy Serraglio of the Center for Biological Diversity; Mike Quigley of The Wilderness Society; and Brian Dolan of the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society) and points out that worthwhile wildlife restoration projects are often challenging and require patience. This project has been making optimistic strides but will continue to be evaluated through an adaptive management process. For more information about the project, visit www.azgfd.gov/catalinabighorn or www.catalinabighornrestoration.org.

Below is the text that the authors sent to the Arizona Daily Star:

___________________________________

Catalina Bighorn Sheep Project Requires Patience But Moves in the Right Direction
By Randy Serraglio, Center for Biological Diversity; Mike Quigley, The Wilderness Society; and Brian Dolan, Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society

It has now been more than a month since any reintroduced desert bighorn sheep have died in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. Three mountain lions have been removed as a result of the Catalina Bighorn Restoration project, and this is unfortunate, but biologists say it will not affect the overall health of the area's lion population. And wildlife managers have spotted five lambs, all of which appear to be healthy and growing.

This is good news for bighorn and everyone rooting for their recovery in a place they called home for thousands of years before they winked out in the 1990s.

The project has been criticized, largely for the lion removals, which are necessary to give the sheep a chance to become established. However, the project's conservative, targeted lion management plan is designed to keep those removals to a minimum, and it's been balanced by a closure of the reintroduction area to recreational lion hunting with hounds.

Sheep mortality has been high as individuals explore new terrain and learn escape routes, and that's regrettable, but high mortality is common with reintroductions of all sorts of wildlife, including desert bighorn. Many past bighorn reintroductions in Arizona and elsewhere around the West started slowly, yet have achieved success. Encouragingly, most of the Catalinas sheep are now congregating in prime habitat: the extremely rugged terrain of the Pusch Ridge Wilderness.

Even using the best available science, wildlife management is a delicate and difficult task. The key is to adapt management decisions to ongoing data collection and changes in conditions on the ground as projects move forward, in order to give species the best chance for recovery. Some individuals may unavoidably be lost in the process, but the key is to increase the overall population of the species and the number of places where it can be found.

By the middle of the 20th century, bighorn sheep numbers had crashed in Arizona and all over the West, largely due to commercial harvest, disease and habitat loss. Since then they've made a dramatic recovery, for two main reasons.

First, states now regulate hunting of bighorn sheep in a rational, science-based fashion, greatly limiting the number of individuals taken every year so that herd populations remain stable and secure. Second, groups that support bighorn conservation put a lot of time, effort and money into reintroduction projects like the one now underway in the Catalinas. About 70 percent of those reintroductions have been successful, and Arizona bighorn numbers have rebounded from a low in the hundreds to nearly 6,000 sheep statewide.

However, just as it's far too soon to call the Catalinas reintroduction a failure, it's also too soon to pop the champagne cork. Later this year the Catalina Bighorn Advisory Committee will analyze all the data and experiences of the project's first year and make a science-based recommendation on whether to continue with another translocation of sheep. Due to slow reproduction rates, it can take many years for a bighorn herd to become reestablished in numbers that are self-sustaining.

Challenges remain, and more sheep will be lost, but several factors point toward optimism: The Coronado National Forest and volunteers have spent hundreds of hours educating recreational users about the importance of staying on trails and not taking dogs into the bighorn reintroduction area. The Coronado is finalizing plans to return fire to its natural role in the Catalinas through its FireScape program, which will benefit habitat for bighorn and many other species. And this summer, workers will break ground on the Oracle Road project, which includes wildlife crossings that will allow sheep to connect with other herds. Bighorn are successfully using such crossings in northern Arizona and other places.

The stark reality of the modern world is that people affect wildlife every day. We believe that intervening to correct our mistakes, mitigate our negative influences, and give wildlife the chance to survive and recover is the right thing to do. We agree with Charles Bowden's conclusion in a recent issue of Arizona Highways: "We can do better than we have. We can bring the bighorns back where they belong."

___________________________________

 

The Arizona Game and Fish Department prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, or disability in its programs and activities. If anyone believes that they have been discriminated against in any of the AGFD's programs or activities, including employment practices, they may file a complaint with the Director's Office, 5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ 85086-5000, (602) 942-3000, or with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Mail Stop WSFR-4020, Arlington, VA 22203. Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation or this document in an alternative format by contacting the Director's Office as listed above.

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[DCS]

This is some good news,it's refreshing to hear something positive.

[elkaholic]

If I was a dedicated sheep hunter and lived closer to Tucson - lion / predator hunting in the newly released herd area would most likely be at the top of my lion /predator hunting locations!

 

what have local predator groups done to help ?

[Arrowsniper]

If they have a known lion that kills, they remove it. Wouldn't that be all of them?

[elkaholic]

.

 

big males move a lot and have a wide range as soon as one notices no other lion around - due to scent trails /piles territory markings etc - they will be next in line move in and take over .

 

you can believe that other lions will take up the hunt.

 

 

yep miss read it - my bad - yes removing all of them

[gotcoues]

Elkaholic,

 

You misread Arrowsniper's post.......

[naturegirl]

Good to hear there are lambs!

 

Would've been nice if the lion population had been thinned out a little before the release.