Birhorn

Bighorn sheep — absent from the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson for more than a decade — could be roaming wild in the range again by mid-November.

State wildlife officials said Wednesday that plans call for capturing bighorns on the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground northeast of Yuma beginning Nov. 16.

“We’ll be trying to get 30 sheep and then transport them to the Tucson area by truck,” said Mark Hart, a spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. “They will be released at Catalina State Park” north of the city.

The bighorns, the first of about 100 to be reintroduced into the Catalinas over the next two years, are intended to help re-establish a once-flourishing herd that died out in the late 1990s.

Hart said a helicopter will be used to capture sheep in the rugged terrain of the proving ground.

“They shoot a net from the helicopter and the bighorn becomes entangled,” Hart said. “Then the animal is airlifted to a staging area where it’s blindfolded and prepared for transport by truck.”

The exact start date and duration of the transplant operation will depend on weather and challenges of capturing the sheep.

“We’re planning generally on Nov. 16, 17 and 18,” but less or more time might be required, Hart said.

The animals will be trucked to Catalina Park as promptly as possible.

“They will be released from the truck, and they will just bound right out and start climbing” into the mountains, Hart said.

Eight of the 31 bighorn sheep reintroduced to the Catalina Mountains have died, with seven being killed by mountain lions, according to a new report by the state Game and Fish Department.

The report, issued Friday, showed that three more bighorns have been found dead since the last report was issued by the agency. One of the eight bighorns died from a medical condition related to being captured.

The three latest deaths were all adult ewes and were all caused by mountain lions, the report said.

Game and Fish officials tracked a mountain lion believed responsible for the latest killing, but did not locate it.

The lions believed responsible for the other two recent deaths were not tracked, the report said.

So far, the agency has killed two mountain lions believed to be responsible for killing sheep.

The bighorns were reintroduced into the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson in November to try to re-establish a herd that died out in the 1990s.

The bighorn deaths and killings of mountain lions have sparked widespread criticism of the agency's project.

In other news, the Coronado National Forest has updated a map showing the boundaries of a special closure area for trails in the bighorn sheep re-introduction area.

The new map shows the trails where hiking restrictions are in place and where dogs are not allowed.

The restrictions in place prohibit anyone from going more than 400 feet off of designated trails during bighorn lambing season, from Jan. 1 to April 30. Dogs are not allowed in the closure area.

Trails entirely within the Pusch Ridge Wilderness affected by the special closure order include Romero, Linda Vista, Finger Rock, Pontatoc, and Pima Canyon. Boundary trails affected by the closure order are Ventana Canyon, Cathedral Rock, and portions of Esperero, West Fork, Romero, and Sutherland Wash, according to a Forest Service news release.

A seventh bighorn sheep apparently has died in the Catalina Mountains, according to state wildlife officials, said a state senator who spoke with the officials Wednesday.

“In my office, they said it appears that a seventh sheep has died of the 31” that were transplanted to the Catalinas in November, said Sen. Olivia Cajero Bedford, D-Tucson. “I said that if seven sheep have died in just two months, what would happen if all 31 were dead by July? Would they stop the program? They said no.”

Officials of the Arizona Game and Fish Department — which is overseeing the bighorn reintroduction project with input from a citizen advisory group — have repeatedly and adamantly declined to respond to questions about sheep deaths except by way of a news release issued every two weeks.

The most recent news release on the project, which is aimed at rebuilding a herd that died out in the Catalinas, was issued Jan. 10 and confirmed only five bighorn deaths. At least two mountain lions have been killed for killing bighorns.

The next release is scheduled for today.

“The public is obviously outraged about this, and they (wildlife officials) have backtracked on their pledge to be transparent and accountable,” said Dwight Metzger, a member of a group called Friends of Wild Animals. The group opposes the reintroduction of bighorns and the killing of mountain lions.

“They still refuse to quantify how many lives will be lost — bighorns and mountain lions — until they admit this is a failure,” Metzger said. “A lot of questions need to be answered.”

Rich Small, another member of the group, said, “I would like to see the Game and Fish Department decide not to go ahead with the additional reintroductions planned for later this year and sometime next year. It’s wasting bighorn sheep and mountain lions that will be killed for killing bighorn sheep.”

A fifth bighorn sheep has died in the Catalina Mountains — the victim of a mountain lion.

Wildlife officials vowed Friday to continue the “necessary and distasteful” policy of killing lions that prey on sheep in the range north of Tucson, where 31 bighorns were reintroduced in November in an effort to re-establish a herd that died out in the 1990s.

Two mountain lions implicated in previous sheep deaths have been killed so far. Hunts for other lions, including one sought in the most recent bighorn death on Jan. 3, have been unsuccessful, officials of the Arizona Game and Fish Department reported.

Department officials and members of a citizens’ advisory committee addressed a wide range of questions about the controversial reintroduction project at a news conference.

Ben Brochu, wildlife manager for Game and Fish, said the bighorns — transplanted from mountains near Yuma — have roamed far and wide in the Catalinas since their release Nov. 18 at Catalina State Park.

Global positioning system collars indicate that sheep have spread out “from the Biosphere (2), around Pusch Ridge and east to Molino Basin,” Brochu said. “A group of four are together now” — a possible indication that the animals might begin to form a cohesive herd.

Examination of the remains of the five dead sheep indicated that “four of the sheep were killed by mountain lions, while the fifth most likely died of capture myopathy” — stemming from stress or injuries during capture, said a report released at the news conference.

PROTESTS AND QUESTIONS

Members of a recently formed group called Friends of Wild Animals turned out before the news conference with signs and statements opposing the reintroduction project and the killing of mountain lions.

“My concern is that the sheep are being wasted,” group member Ricardo Small said. “I don’t think this project will succeed for the long term.”

Another protester, Sharon Eisenhower, said, “I don’t want to see any more mountain lions get killed.”

At the conference, reporters, group members and state Sen.

Olivia Cajero Bedford pursued the controversial issue of lion killing and a perceived “secrecy” and lack of readily available information about the project.

Responding to concerns about lion killings, advisory committee member Randy Serraglio, of the Center for Biological Diversity, said he shares such concerns.

“I’m a cat person,” said Serraglio, noting that he owns a domestic cat. “It definitely pains me to think about mountain lions being killed. ... But it’s a necessary and distasteful” policy in establishing the bighorn herd.

He said the policy — in which wildlife officers establish a lion’s role by its proximity to the bighorn kill site and other factors — is “very targeted, very conservative and very limited.”

Mike Quigley, an advisory-group member with The Wilderness Society, said the group determined it probably wasn’t feasible to re-establish the herd without removing some sheep-killing lions.

“This isn’t punitive,” Quigley said. “This isn’t about punishing mountain lions for doing what mountain lions do.”

Department officials and advisory group members emphasized that female lions with kittens will not be pursued and killed even if it appears they killed a bighorn.

Cajero Bedford said she has had difficulty in getting information from the Game and Fish Department about the reintroduction project.

“There’s a feeling out there that there’s some secrecy to this project,” she said.

Advisory-group members said they sometimes need time to coordinate information and talking points, but they denied that the project is cloaked in secrecy.

“There’s nothing to hide here whatsoever,” Serraglio said.

Department officials and advisory-group members said they plan to provide written briefings on the status of the project every two weeks.

A new group — Friends of Wild Animals — has been formed in Tucson to protest developments in a recent bighorn sheep reintroduction near the city and voice opposition to the closure of meetings on the project by state wildlife officials.

Group members are demanding that meetings held by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and a citizens advisory group be opened to the public.

“We are also calling for an indefinite moratorium on any further bighorn sheep reintroduction or mountain lion killing in the Catalina Mountains,” said group spokesman Ben Pachano.

Two of 31 bighorn sheep — captured near Yuma and released in the Catalinas on Nov. 18 — have died, and state-sponsored hunters killed two mountain lions that preyed on the sheep. Numerous people have decried the killings.

Some citizens and a reporter from the Star sought to be admitted to a Game and Fish Department meeting on the reintroduction reportedly scheduled for Thursday evening. A department spokesman declined to reveal where — or even if — a meeting would be held.

“There are no bighorn sheep meetings scheduled, for today or in the future, that are subject to Arizona’s open-meetings law,” was the terse response from spokesman Mark Hart, who provided no additional information.

Pachano said the Friends of Wild Animals group is made up of a small but growing number of “environmentalists and wildlife lovers who are upset about the way this reintroduction is being handled.”

“Game and Fish has proven itself incapable to manage a responsible reintroduction program,” Pachano said.

“Rather than working toward a healthy ecosystem that honors predator and prey relationships, Game and Fish is treating the Catalinas like a giant stock pond for its trophy-hunting friends.”

He maintained that agency officials are “literally running away from public scrutiny” by holding meetings on the bighorn project that aren’t open to the public or media.

Members of the group provided an email address — friendsofwildanimals@gmail.com — for people who have questions about the group or want to join it.

The reintroduction of bighorn sheep to the Catalina Mountains has gotten off to a deadly and controversial start — with two bighorns killed by mountain lions, two predatory lions killed by state-sponsored hunters and many citizens voicing scathing criticisms of the project.

Thirty-one sheep, captured in mountains near Yuma last month by officers of the Arizona Game and Fish Department, were released in the Catalinas north of Tucson on Nov. 18.

It was the first step in a plan by wildlife officials and members of a citizens advisory group to rebuild a bighorn herd that died out in the range in the 1990s.

Even before the sheep were released, numerous people decried the project as an ill-conceived effort to micromanage nature — and some predicted that the bighorns were doomed to death in a place where the previous herd met its end.

Last week, with reports that bighorns and mountain lions were dying so soon after the reintroduction, many Tucsonans expressed outrage.

Some lashed out at the Game and Fish Department for “absolutely appalling behavior” and for causing “cruel and unusual suffering” for the sheep and lions. Others called for an immediate end to the project and an investigation into the department’s actions. One Tucsonan posted a petition at www.change.org calling on citizens to urge the department to stop killing mountain lions.

But others have expressed support for the reintroduction and want to see it go forward. One Tucson sportsman and conservationist said loud opposition to the project reflects the “inflamed emotions of a misguided and under-informed public.”

The Star posed questions about the reintroduction and resulting controversy to Game and Fish officials. Here are the agency’s answers, which were formulated by a group of officials and advisory group members and submitted in writing:

Q: At least two bighorn sheep have been killed, and two mountain lions have been killed by marksmen representing the department, since the Nov. 18 bighorn release. Did wildlife officials expect the killing to begin so soon?

A: We expected that lions would prey on sheep. Exactly how soon that would happen could not be predicted. However, predation commonly occurs soon following release because during the early weeks and months, translocated bighorn sheep remain unfamiliar with their new surroundings and are exploring their new home. It takes a little while to learn where the best habitat is located.

Q: Will every lion that kills a bighorn be tracked down and killed?

A: That is unlikely. Not all mountain lions that prey on bighorn sheep are likely to be found. If a female with young kittens is the predator that takes a bighorn sheep, we will not take that animal.

Q: What is the method of operation? How do wildlife officers or contract hunters get to the kill site? Are helicopters, horses or off-highway vehicles involved, or is the approach on foot?

A: They hike in by foot.

Q: How can wildlife officers know for certain that a particular lion has killed a sheep before they kill the lion and examine the contents of its stomach and other evidence?

A: If the inspection of the dead bighorn sheep occurs soon after the death, there is a very high probability that if a mountain lion killed the bighorn sheep, it will remain in the vicinity of the kill and carcass. Both of the mountain lions recently removed had been feeding on the bighorn sheep and were at or near the sheep kill site. Tracking is done by wildlife management professionals and/or an experienced houndsman. Finally, forensic samples of the bighorn sheep and the mountain lion are collected and analyzed in the process by which we confirm predation as the cause of death.

Q: Numerous members of the public say they are “outraged” that a state agency is killing members of one species to protect another. What’s the best brief explanation of this policy?

A: Removing mountain lions that kill bighorn sheep is a short-term management strategy to allow for the bighorn sheep population to grow and become self-sustaining. Research shows that Tucsonans support having bighorn sheep in the Catalinas. Only mountain lions that prey on sheep will be removed. While certain individual mountain lions are removed, the overall population of mountain lions will not be substantially affected. The mountain lion population in the Catalinas is among the most abundant in Arizona.

Q: It was stated after a meeting Tuesday that wildlife officials will reassess the situation if “at some point a threshold is reached” where the deaths of sheep and mountain lions are deemed excessive. What is that threshold?

A: We are following an adaptive management strategy which means that we continually reassess based on incoming data which is assessed in conjunction with the Catalina Bighorn Advisory Committee. We are committed to working with and through our community partners in this adaptive decision-making process.

The plan includes a subsequent translocation of more bighorn sheep from another population next year. Those bighorn sheep will benefit from the herd knowledge gained by bighorn sheep from the release this year. At this point, we do not anticipate abandoning this effort in the short term, but our plans will continue to be shared with the public as they develop.

Q: If such a threshold is reached, what would happen? Would the department stop killing mountain lions? Would it cancel plans for transplanting more sheep to the Catalinas?

A: This is a five-year project with two more sheep transplants planned. Modification of the program is certainly a possibility, but again, we will work with our community partners in the adaptive decision-making process.

Q: Are the sheep showing signs of forming a cohesive herd or are they quite scattered? Would forming a cohesive herd help protect the bighorns from predation by mountain lions?

A: At present, the bighorn sheep continue to explore their new habitat and have not yet formed herd units. Individual bighorn sheep in a group tend to be less vigilant, but larger groups of bighorn sheep may offer more protection, as more individuals are watching for predators from more directions.

Q: Is the previously reported cost of the entire three-year project still estimated at $600,000 or has the projected cost changed? What is an approximate cost to taxpayers of pursuing and killing a mountain lion that has killed a bighorn?

A: No taxpayer dollars are being used for this project and the department does not receive any general fund appropriations. This effort is funded entirely with fees paid for hunting licenses and permits, as well as excise taxes on hunting equipment and private donations. Anyone who has not purchased hunting or fishing licenses, purchased firearms or ammunition, or provided a donation to this project has not contributed anything toward this conservation effort. We encourage people to donate to the restoration project.

Q: Could the Game and Fish Department and the advisory group have been wrong about the viability of reintroducing bighorn sheep to the Catalina Mountains?

A: This is a management experiment. Bighorn sheep were extirpated from the Catalinas during the early 1990s, yet the specific reason for the extirpation remains speculative. Yet, many possible factors influencing that extirpation have been addressed, including habitat improvements and recreational disturbance. Many years of study, planning and community coordination paved the way to the recent release in the Catalinas. Yet this remains a long-term project. Statewide, the department has relocated over 2,000 bighorn sheep since 1957. Translocations have been the primary tool that brought bighorn sheep from the estimated 1,500 animals in 1957 to the more than 5,500 we have in the state today.

This is the first effort to restore the population in the Catalina Mountains. The difficulty in restoring a population after it has been extirpated underscores the importance of maintaining those populations that are in place. Our objective is to establish a self-sustaining population, and we are doing everything we can to work toward this. This is a wildlife experiment that can inform bighorn sheep management statewide.

Q: Might the project be canceled if sheep and lions continue to die? And if it were canceled, would the department consider recapturing the sheep and returning them to their home ranges?

A: This is a five-year program, and we are in this for the long haul. We are committed to working with and through our community partners to achieve the best possible outcomes.

The department is not planning to recapture any remaining bighorn sheep if the effort is discontinued. These bighorn sheep may find others in other nearby habitats, or simply join other pioneers that may explore into the Catalinas from those nearby habitats. Any recapture effort in this habitat would be risky for both biologists and bighorn sheep.

Q: Is there other information you would like to share?

A: We are using the latest science to work toward success of this project. That includes understanding the life histories of bighorn sheep and mountain lions.

Mountain lions and bighorn sheep differ in their longevity and reproductive capabilities. Mountain lions can live up to 13 years in the wild, although most are substantially younger. Female mountain lions typically breed for their first time between a year and half and 3 years of age. Females typically have twins, and give birth about once every year and a half. Survival to adult is variable, but ranges from 20 to 50 percent.

Bighorn sheep may live up to 12 years in the wild as well, although attaining this age is equally unlikely for bighorn sheep as it is for mountain lions. First breeding for females typically occurs during her second year. Ewes will typically have a single lamb annually, and lamb survival to adulthood is typically around 25 percent.

These natural history parameters give mountain lions the reproductive advantage over bighorn sheep. Within the Catalinas, this demographic advantage also extends to the potential for immigration of mountain lions from contiguous habitat, from which other mountain lions may move into any vacant habitat. Suitable bighorn sheep habitat is most often isolated to steeper ground with cliffs and peaks. Bighorn sheep have to cross substantial barriers, including highways and unsuitable habitat, to gain access to the Catalinas. That is why sheep had to be reintroduced, after having died out in the 1990s. Clearly, there is no danger of decimating mountain lion numbers.

And although the numbers themselves may favor mountain lions, the Catalinas are home to a robust deer and javelina population that mountain lions can also use for food.

Conservation of wildlife is a long-term and often a difficult pursuit, based on scientific research, observation and monitoring and experience, planning and coordination with land management agencies, local governments, organizations and citizens.

Conservation requires “boots on the ground” in all kinds of conditions and circumstances. The public’s passion for wildlife is of utmost importance. We seek to inform the public as to all aspects of the department’s management of wildlife.

Bighorn sheep and mountain lions are dying in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson as a result of a "transplant" of 31 sheep into the range last month.

"I'm confirming that there were two sheep mortalities and two mountain lions lethally removed in the Catalina Mountains this weekend," said Mark Hart, spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. "But I"m declining comment on further details pending a meeting at 6 p.m. tonight at the Arizona Game and Fish Department offices in Tucson."

Officers of the Game and Fish Department, using helicopters and net guns, captured the 31 bighorns in mountains near Yuma on Nov. 16 and 17. The animals were released into the Catalina Mountains from Catalina State Park north of Tucson on Nov. 18.

Hart declined to confirm reports that the two mountain lions were shot by marksmen working with the department because it was determined that the lions had killed sheep.

"We have no further comments pending the meeting," Hart said.

Questions yet to be answered by the wildlife officials include what led to the shooting of the mountain lions and what caused officers to conclude that they were "guilty" of killing the bighorns.

Numerous Tucson residents have written letters and contacted the Arizona Daily Star to decry the transplant plan and the likely killing of mountain lions for doing what predators do — preying on animals such as bighorns.

Read more in tomorrow's Star

YUMA — Wildlife officers — swooping out of the sky in helicopters and wielding net guns — snared fleet bighorn sheep in rugged mountains northeast of here Saturday.

It was the first vital step in a plan to transplant bighorns from healthy herds near Yuma to the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson — where a native bighorn herd died out in the 1990s.

“It’s going well and the sheep are looking good,” said Anne Justice-Allen, wildlife veterinarian with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

By midday, the net-gunners had captured nearly a dozen animals and taken them to a staging area on the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge for veterinarian exams and installation of Global Positioning System collars.

BUILDING A NEW HERD

The department planned to collect 15 bighorns from one herd Saturday and take an additional 15 from another herd today.

The sheep are to be carried by trailer to Tucson and released at Catalina State Park Monday morning.

Thirty more animals are to be moved to the Catalinas next year, followed by 30 more the year after that, said Raul Vega, regional supervisor for the Game and Fish Department in Tucson.

“We’re real excited,” Vega said. “This has been a long time coming, and lots of people have been involved” — including an advisory group made up of members of conservation and wildlife organizations.

“If we can get the population up to 100 animals, we consider that a pretty good population for the Catalinas,” Vega said.

Mike Quigley, of the Wilderness Society, one of the advisory organizations, was at the wildlife refuge staging area Saturday to watch the captured sheep brought in

“We’ve been working for the better part of a year to make this a success, and this is the first major milestone,” Quigley said. “We look forward to seeing the sheep start their journey to Tucson.”

The bighorns are expected to roam at first on craggy Pusch Ridge on the southwestern end of the Catalinas, but biologists said some might later move farther east

The new herd’s survival isn’t certain. Some of the factors that might have led to the demise of the previous herd remain — including encroaching urban construction, possible disruption of the herd by hikers, and predation by mountain lions.

Heidi Schewel, spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, which is a partner in the project, emphasized that dogs — which can also threaten bighorn survival — are not permitted in the sheep habitat at any time. Hikers will be limited in off-trail travel during the bighorn lambing season from January through April.

CAPTURE TECHNIQUES

Chris Bedinger, a spokesman for the Game and Fish Department’s Yuma office, said the helicopter capture team includes a pilot, an officer wielding the net gun, and a person known as a “mugger.”

“Once the animal is netted and lowered to the ground, the mugger jumps from the helicopter and secures the animal,” Bedinger said.

The bighorn is loaded onto the helicopter and flown back to the staging area, where workers put the animal on a stretcher and rush it to an examining area.

Justice-Allen said arriving bighorns are checked for temperature and any injuries.

“We give them treatment to bring the temperature down” if it is too high, she said. “Pouring cold water over them to prevent overheating is what works best.”

Workers also collect blood samples from the sheep and attach ear tags and the GPS collars, which will allow biologists to monitor bighorn movement and mortality in the Catalinas.

MORE EWES THAN RAMS

Capture teams seek to catch more females than males.

“We try for two to three ewes for each ram,” Justice-Allen said. “The ewes are the ones that make the population grow.”

In fact, there could be bighorn births next spring in the Catalinas.

“The breeding season is past,” Justice-Allen said, “so ewes are in the early stages of pregnancy.”

Bighorn sheep are roaming wild in the Catalina Mountains once more.

Thirty-one of the fleet, agile animals — captured in rugged mountains near Yuma over the weekend — were released early Monday at Catalina State Park north of Tucson.

The 24 ewes, six rams and one lamb leapt out of a transport trailer when doors were opened and made a bounding beeline for craggy Pusch Ridge.

State wildlife officers “transplanted” the animals as a first step in an effort to rebuild a bighorn herd that died out in the Catalinas in the 1990s.

“So far, it’s looking good,” said Raul Vega, regional supervisor for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, minutes after the bighorns took to the hills. “There were no fatalities” or serious injuries in the process of capturing and releasing the animals.

Plans call for transplanting 30 more sheep to the area next year and another 30 the following year with hopes of building a herd of about 100 animals.

“SECONDS OF EXCITEMENT”

Game and Fish Department officers — along with the U.S. Forest Service and an advisory group from conservation and wildlife organizations — spent more than a year evaluating the transplant concept and working out details for carrying it out.

Department spokesman Mark Hart summed up the project goal this way: “The overall objective is to restore a healthy, viable and self-sustaining bighorn sheep population that coexists in natural balance with a healthy native predator population in a naturally functioning ecosystem.”

The overall cost estimate for the project: $600,000 over the next three years. Public and private fundraising efforts are underway to secure funding, Hart said.

Compared with the two-day sheep-capture operation near Yuma, where wildlife officers used a net-gun fired from a helicopter to snare sheep, the release on Monday seemed to be over in a heartbeat.

“Welcome to wildlife management,” Joe Sacco, field supervisor for the Game and Fish Department, said after the release. “It’s years of planning punctuated by seconds of excitement.”

NOT ALL AGREE

Numerous residents of Southern Arizona have contacted the Arizona Daily Star to voice objections to the reintroduction — many calling it a “death sentence” for sheep seeking a foothold in an area where the previous herd died out. Some have expressed their misgivings in public meetings on the topic.

Wildlife officers and project supporters at Monday’s release voiced optimism. But they acknowledged that it will take time to learn how the bighorns will adapt to their new home — an adaptation that could be hindered by urban encroachment, predation by mountain lions and human recreation activities.

“The previous herd thrived for years and years and years,” said J.W. Harris, chairman of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. “Fire suppression, drought, disease, the presence of humans and other factors could have brought the demise of that herd.”

Key factors have changed, however, said Harris and others.

One is that fires have been allowed to burn naturally where possible in the sheep habitat in recent years — removing dense vegetation that provided cover for mountain lions stalking bighorns in earlier times when fires were suppressed.

Another factor: Dogs, which have a negative impact on sheep breeding and survival, are now banned from the habitat, and the Forest Service has limited off-trail travel during the January-to-April lambing season.

Also important, project supporters say, is that all of the released bighorns except the lamb, which is still growing, are fitted with Global Positioning System collars. Signals from the collars will allow wildlife officers to monitor sheep movements and learn of sheep deaths.

If it’s determined that one or more mountain lions are preying regularly on bighorns, efforts would be made to kill those lions. That’s another part of the plan that has drawn criticism from some members of the public.

WILL HERD BE HUNTED?

A spokesman for the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society, which is a member of the advisory group and a financial contributor to the project, said hunting of the species in the Catalinas could be in the future — but not the immediate future.

“If this becomes a viable, self-sustaining herd, it would be at least 10 years before there would be hunting,” said Joe Sheehey, a past president of the society.

All 31 of the bighorn sheep released into the Catalina Mountains on Nov. 18 apparently have survived so far and are fanning out across the range, state wildlife officials said Wednesday.

“So far, so good,” said Mark Hart, spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. “They’re generally in the historic range for bighorns, and they’re doing well at this point as far as we can tell from the data we’re receiving” from global positioning system collars on the animals.

The sheep, captured in mountains near Yuma on Nov. 16 and 17, were “transplanted” to the Catalinas in an effort to rebuild a herd that died out there in the 1990s. Twenty-four ewes, six rams and one yearling ram were released along the Romero Canyon Trail at Catalina State Park north of Tucson — and they quickly bounded away into the mountains.

“WIDELY DISPERSED”

“It looks like one of the sheep is as far north as the mountains in an area near Biosphere 2” southwest of Oracle, Hart said.

He said another half-dozen bighorns have made their way east from the release site to the slopes of Mount Lemmon.

“Most of the remainder are in the Pusch Ridge area including Pima Canyon, and one animal has made its way as far east as the west fork of Sabino Canyon,” Hart said. “They are pretty widely dispersed, but they are tending to hang together in smaller groups of three, four or six animals.”

In previous transplant operations, sheep have tended to regroup into more cohesive herds after fanning out initially, Hart said.

He said wildlife officers studied the Catalinas well in advance of the release and found “good habitat from upper Sabino Canyon all the way (west) from there to Pusch Ridge” at the southwestern end of Catalinas.

“Part of what makes

Pusch Ridge so good is that it is so rough that it doesn’t get as many hikers,” who might impact the bighorns’ behavior, Hart said. “It’s the most rugged and least accessible part of the range. But where the sheep go is up to them.”

COLLARS WILL COME OFF

The GPS collars fitted on the sheep help wildlife officers track bighorn movements and determine when a sheep dies — marked by the cessation of movements.

“We’d love to think there will be no mortalities, but there will be,” Hart said. “In the natural order of things, there will be mortalities — whether from accident, a misstep or a predator.”

The collars aren’t intended to remain with the sheep indefinitely.

“The collars come off automatically when the battery dies — after maybe two years,” Hart said.

Eight of the 31 bighorn sheep transplanted to the Catalina Mountains in November are now dead — slashing the size of the group by more than 25 percent in just over two months.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department finally confirmed the sixth, seventh and eighth bighorn deaths in a news release on Friday, more than two weeks after one of the sheep died and more than a week after the other two deaths.

Agency officials have declined to provide promptly updated information on the sheep reintroduction, choosing instead to issue news releases only every two weeks. The previous news release on Jan. 10 confirmed five deaths and the deaths of two mountain lions that were killed by the agency for preying on sheep.

The three mortalities confirmed Friday were adult ewes found on Jan. 8, 11 and 15, the news release said. It said investigators determined that the bighorns were killed by mountain lions, but that the “offending” lions were not located.

Most of the sheep released were fitted with GPS tracking collars.

The eight dead bighorns consisted of six adult ewes, a yearling ewe and an adult ram. All the ewes were killed by mountain lions, investigators found. The ram apparently was a victim of capture myopathy, a buildup of lactic acid in muscle tissue during the capture or release process that can lead to heart failure, the news release said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Forest Service officials released an updated map of a designated bighorn sheep management area, where restrictions are in place.

Dogs are prohibited at all times in the area, and traveling more than 400 feet off designated trails is prohibited during the bighorn lambing season from Jan. 1 through April 30.

Also prohibited are day-use groups of more than 15 people and overnight groups of more than six people, year round.

CONTROVERSIAL PROJECT

The bighorn sheep reintroduction, which is aimed at rebuilding a herd in the Catalinas that died out in the 1990s, has drawn strong criticism from many members of the public. Some say it’s a bad idea to reintroduce bighorns where the species previously failed to thrive. Others decry the killing of mountain lions for doing what predators naturally do — in this case, preying on bighorns.

“As the toll from this cruel experiment mounts, the (citizens’) advisory committee (working with the Game and Fish Department) needs to act,” said Dwight Metzger, a member of a group called Friends of Wild Animals. “There should be no more lions killed, and certainly no more bighorns relocated in the Catalinas.”

Supporters of the project — including members of the advisory committee and Tucson sportsman Larry Audsley — say it’s a worthy plan and that people should withhold judgment until it has a chance to succeed.

A ninth bighorn sheep has died in the Catalina Mountains where 31 bighorns were released in November, state wildlife officials reported Friday.

The pregnant adult ewe was found Jan. 31 in area of steep slopes and cliffs.

Officials of the Arizona Game and Fish Department said in a news release that “evidence indicates that a cat, perhaps a young mountain lion or a bobcat was likely involved, but due to rains overnight, investigators failed to find fresh tracks or a trail, and the cat did not appear to have returned to feed on the sheep again. Thus the animal that preyed on the sheep was not removed.”

The 31 bighorns, captured in mountains near Yuma, were released in the Catalinas north of Tucson in an effort to rebuild a herd that disappeared from the range in the 1990s. In addition to the nine bighorn deaths, two mountain lions have been killed for preying on sheep.

The project has drawn widespread criticism from citizens who opposed the bighorn capture and transplant — and now express outrage at the subsequent deaths of sheep and lions. But the project has won support from a citizens advisory committee and others in the Tucson area, including sportsman Larry Audsley.

“Most people are not familiar with the history of bighorn sheep recovery in Arizona and don’t realize the extent of mortalities that occurred with previous transplants that ultimately proved successful,” Audsley said. “Restoring sheep to their historical habitat is essential to securing the future of the species.

“Opponents of the reintroduction seem to be very concerned with the welfare of individual lions and sheep,” he said. “Supporters have a broader perspective that takes in biodiversity and the well-being of the entire species. I believe that’s a major point of division between the two groups.”

Audsley added that “death is a constant among wildlife. They’re constantly dying for all sorts of reasons. That’s why they have such high birth rates, and if they weren’t dying prematurely at such a high rate we’d soon be overrun with them. That helps explain why we don’t get hysterical over the loss of a few animals as part of an effort to benefit the population as a whole.”

Some opponents of the project maintain that it amounts to “torture” of the sheep and persecution of mountain lions for doing what predators do — and they say the high number of deaths indicates that the project is on the path to failure.

“To torture the sheep in the netting and capturing is cruel,” said Rich Small, a member of a group called Friends of Wild Animals and one of many who have viewed Game and Fish Department videos of the capture. The videos showed some bighorns taking hard falls after being ensnared by nets shot from a helicopter.

“They seem to want to charge ahead with the next two relocations of bighorns” scheduled for later this year and in 2015, Small said. “I have two degrees in wildlife biology, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to put the bighorn sheep through that sort of trauma. That type of torture is not OK. The project should stop. It’s a big mistake.”

Small also expressed concern about a reference in the Game and Fish Department report that says, “As of Feb. 2, 2014, 21 of the 30 (GPS) collared sheep were known to be alive on the mountains.”

“What about the uncollared bighorn?” Small asked, referring to the single one of the 31 sheep that wasn’t fitted with a GPS tracking collar. “Is it alive or dead?”

Another bighorn sheep has died in the Catalina Mountains — the 10th bighorn fatality since 31 sheep were released in the range last November, state wildlife officials confirmed Monday.

“It was a ewe and it was found on Friday, Feb. 7,” said Mark Hart, a spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. “The cause of the death is being investigated.”

The 31 bighorn sheep, captured from healthy herds near Yuma, were relocated to the Catalinas in an effort to rebuild a herd that disappeared from the range in the 1990s.

Most of the sheep that have died were killed by mountain lions. Two lions have been killed for preying on sheep.

The bighorn reintroduction project has won support from a citizens advisory committee and many Tucson-area sportsmen, but it has drawn intense criticism from other members of the public. Opponents maintain it makes little sense to remove bighorns from habitats where herds are thriving and relocate them to the Catalinas, where the previous herd died out. Others have criticized the Game and Fish Department for the killing of lions for doing what predators naturally do to stay alive.

Monday’s confirmation of the most recent bighorn death marked a change from a former Game and Fish Department policy of refusing to provide promptly updated information on the project. Under the previous policy, information was released only in project reports issued every two weeks.

Two apparently healthy lambs have been born to bighorn sheep that were released in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson last November, state wildlife officials reported Wednesday.

The lambs were sighted last week by a biologist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, who took photos of one of the lambs with its mother.

“This is another important milestone in the Santa Catalina bighorn sheep restoration project,” said Raúl Vega, regional supervisor for the department. “Our goal is to restore a healthy, viable and self-sustaining population of desert bighorn sheep to the range that coexists with an equally healthy native predator population in a naturally functioning ecosystem.”

Thirty-one bighorns, captured in mountains near Yuma, were brought to the Catalinas in an effort to rebuild a herd that disappeared from the range in the 1990s.

Ten of the bighorns have died, most being the victims of mountain lions. Two mountain lions have been killed for preying on sheep.

PHOTOS FROM A DISTANCE

The biologist’s photos show the first lamb and ewe that were seen, said Mark Hart, spokesman for the department. “A second lamb and ewe were also spotted.”

Hart said the photos were taken from the ground at a far distance using a high-magnification spotting scope and handheld camera. It was important to remain at a distance to minimize disturbance to the sheep.

The lamb in the pictures was photographed on Feb. 4, Hart said. The second lamb was seen on Feb. 6.

Mike Quigley of the Wilderness Society, who serves on a project advisory committee, said, “These little lambs are the first Catalina-born desert bighorn sheep in nearly 25 years. This used to be a common event and hopefully will be again.”

Another advisory committee member, Trica Oshant Hawkins of the Arizona Wilderness Coalition, called the lamb sightings “great news and a timely reminder of the importance of trail restrictions currently in place within the Coronado National Forest’s Bighorn Sheep Management Area.” The restrictions prohibit dogs in the area at all times and hiking more than 400 feet off trail during the bighorn lambing season from January through April.

“We’re hopeful that other ewes will successfully birth lambs over the coming months,” Oshant Hawkins said. “The January-through-April lambing season is a very sensitive time for bighorn sheep, so it’s really critical that people do not hike off trail or take their dogs into the area.”

Time will tell if the lambs will survive, but the ewes apparently chose good birthing sites, Hart said.

“Ewes will pick the safest location possible to give birth,” he said. That’s what you’re seeing in the photos — rugged, rocky terrain where she can birth the lamb.”

Another bighorn sheep has died in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, state wildlife officials confirmed Saturday.

It’s the 11th bighorn death in the range since 31 sheep were released in November, bringing the toll to more than a third of the population in about three months.

“The Arizona Game and Fish Department confirmed a bighorn sheep mortality in the Santa Catalina Mountains on Wednesday, Feb. 12,” says a notice on a department website. “The cause of death for the ram was determined to be predation by mountain lion, which was also determined to be the cause of death for a bighorn ewe mortality confirmed on Friday, Feb.7. In both cases, the mountain lions that took the sheep were pursued but not administratively removed (killed).”

The news comes just days after the department announced that two lambs have been born to ewes that were among the sheep relocated to the Catalinas.

A member of a group called Friends of Wild Animals said the rapidly occurring deaths suggest that the reintroduction project — an effort to rebuild a herd that disappeared from the Catalinas in the 1990s — is doomed.

“Only 20 of the original 31 relocated bighorn sheep are alive after only three months,” Rich Small said. “The actual death rate of the relocated bighorns indicates that, within the next six months, all will be dead.

“It’s a shame that two lambs were born in unfamiliar habitat in the Catalina Mountains instead of in their parents’ home ranges over near Yuma, where the habitat is familiar to the adults and where mountain lions are not being killed by Game and Fish Department personnel.”

Two mountain lions have been killed in the Catalinas for preying on bighorns since the project began.

Another bighorn sheep, a ram, was found dead in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson on Tuesday, the Arizona Game and Fish Department has confirmed.

It was the 12th bighorn to die since 31 sheep were relocated to the Catalinas from the Yuma area in November.

The cause of the ram’s death is under investigation, officials reported.

Two mountain lions have been killed for preying on sheep since the reintroduction project began.

In related developments:

• A bighorn lamb was spotted Tuesday in the Catalinas. It’s the third lamb seen since the relocation, which is aimed at rebuilding a herd that disappeared from the range in the 1990s.
• Members of a group called the Friends of Wild Animals held a protest Thursday outside the downtown headquarters of the Coronado National Forest. The purpose: to voice opposition to a proposal that would allow helicopters in the forest’s federally designated wilderness habitat occupied by the bighorns.

Mark Hart, a spokesman for the Game and Fish Department, said the agency is seeking a permit from forest officials to fly helicopters in the wilderness if such flights were deemed necessary.

“Helicopter flights could be necessary to examine a sheep carcass, remove a carcass, or bring up supplies,” Hart said.

“If a helicopter goes into the wilderness, we would need the permit.”

Heidi Schewel, spokeswoman for the Coronado Forest, said Thursday that the permit request is under consideration.

A decision would be made by forest officials only after following standard protocols, Schewel said.

Ben Pachano, a spokesman for Friends of Wild Animals, said the group opposes helicopter flights in the wilderness because “helicopters are a major disruption to wildlife, including lots of sensitive wildlife other than bighorns.”

The Arizona Game and Fish Department released new photos Friday of another lamb born in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.

So far, three lambs have been spotted in the Catalinas, born to bighorns relocated there from Yuma.

Game and Fish said this week that 12 of the 31 bighorns relocated have died, most being killed by mountain lions.

The agency said at least three lambs have been seen in the mountains.

Mountain lions that kill bighorn sheep in the Catalina Mountains will now be tracked and killed by state-sponsored hunters only in a portion of the Catalinas rather than throughout the range, wildlife officials said Friday.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department said in its project update that it is implementing a recommendation to “collapse the previous administrative mountain lion removal (killing) boundary and refocus removal efforts to a more defined area.”

Since 31 bighorn sheep were relocated to the Catalinas north of Tucson from mountains near Yuma in November, 12 bighorns have died — most of them killed by mountain lions. Two mountain lions have been killed by the agency for preying on sheep. Pursuits of other lions have been unsuccessful.

“We’ve adapted the plan to better manage the sheep population,” which is monitored by means of GPS collars, said Mark Hart, an agency spokesman. “Most of the surviving sheep are in the (reduced) area where lions can be pursued. We’re trying to focus resources on the best habitat.

“Previously, essentially the whole Catalina range was the area where we could pursue mountain lions,” Hart said. “Now, the designated area is basically the west and south slopes — from Cañada del Oro to Bear Canyon.”

He had no immediate estimate of the acreage of the area.

Elsewhere in the reintroduction update issued Friday, officials and the project advisory committee noted that “there has been a conscious effort to try an alternative, more conservative and more targeted approach to addressing mountain lion predation. The idea is to remove only those lions that select for sheep and leave in place those that do not.”

The reason for that, the report said, “is that those lions left in the habitat would prevent the influx of new migrant lions that could prey upon sheep.”

The report said the agency and advisory committee look for ways to conduct “selective” removal of lions that prey on bighorns as much as possible.

It goes on to say, however, that an alternative is “to apply more indiscriminate methods until specific goals tied to the management are met” and that “alternative actions may become necessary in order to facilitate the re-establishment of the bighorn sheep herd in the Santa Catalina Mountains.”

Ben Pachano, a spokesman for a group called Friends of Wild Animals, said, “While it’s good to see Game and Fish limiting lion hunting in any way, the people of Tucson have made it clear that they want a complete end to the killing of mountain lions in the Catalinas.”

“It’s notable,” Pachano said, “that in the same report announcing a limitation of lion hunting, the advisory committee basically threatens to begin wide-scale killing of mountain lions if they deem it ‘necessary.’ But the entire reintroduction project is itself unnecessary.”

NEW LAMB PHOTOS

Photos released Friday by the Game and Fish Department show a bighorn lamb — one of three lambs spotted in the range since the relocation project began.

While the births are considered a positive sign, officials caution that quick population gains are unlikely because of a low survival rate for lambs.

The survival rate for bighorn lambs is 20 to 25 percent, Hart said.

A bighorn sheep was found dead Friday in the Catalina Mountains — marking the 13th bighorn death since 31 sheep were relocated to the range from the Yuma area in November, state wildlife officials confirmed Monday.

The ram’s cause of death was determined to be predation by a mountain lion, said Mark Hart, spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

“We’re trying to locate the lion, but some time has elapsed (since the bighorn death) so it’s questionable whether it will be located, Hart said.

Two mountain lions have been killed for preying on sheep since the relocation, which is aimed at rebuilding a bighorn herd that disappeared from the Catalinas north of Tucson in the 1990s. Some hunting and conservation groups support the project, but many Tucson-area residents have voiced strong opposition to it.

Two more bighorn sheep have died in the Catalina Mountains and a mountain lion was killed for preying on sheep, state wildlife officials confirmed Wednesday.

The sheep deaths were confirmed on Sunday and on Tuesday.

Fifteen of the 31 bighorns relocated from the Yuma area to the Catalinas in November are now dead.

The bighorn found dead Sunday was a ewe, and wildlife officers determined that it was the victim of a mountain lion, said Mark Hart, spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. The agency is overseeing an effort to rebuild a bighorn herd that disappeared from the Catalinas north of Tucson in the 1990s.

"The lion was trailed directly from the sheep carcass and taken (killed) within a half mile of the kill site" by a department-authorized hunter, Hart said. "We think this was a lion that has killed up to three other (GPS) collared sheep because of the size of the track as well as the timing and proximity to recent sheep deaths."

It's the third mountain lion killed for preying on sheep since the relocation in November.

The bighorn found dead Tuesday was a ram, reducing the number of rams in the remaining group of sheep to two, Hart said. He said the cause of the ram's death is under investigation.

It would be "premature" to decide whether to go ahead with a planned relocation of 30 additional bighorns to the Catalinas in the fall, Hart said.