Category

Desert Bighorn Sheep

The desert bighorn sheep is native to the rugged highlands of west Texas, but was largely lost in the first half of the 1900s due to overhunting to supply meat to mining and railroad work crews, and on account of diseases contracted from domestic sheep herds. A restocking effort, begun in the mid-1950s, combined with hunting limits and habitat acquisition, has been remarkably successful in restoring the animal to the state.

Interviews

Narrator: Froylan HernandezTitle: AoudadDuration: 00:04:43Date: August 15, 2024Here, Froylan Hernandez, a wildlife biologist and the Desert Bighorn Sheep Program leader for Texas Parks and Wildlife, explains the risk aoudads pose to bighorns. Aoudads, an exotic ungulate introduced by the state and private landowners as a game animal in the 1950s, have thrived across the state. However, they expose the native bighorn to the lethal MOV bacteria, and also compete for forage and range. Largely as a result, bighorn populations in Texas have dropped by 60% from 2019 to 2024.Narrator: Billy Pat McKinneyTitle: Die OutDuration: 00:01:17Date: April 5, 2001Billy Pat McKinney, a former Texas Parks and Wildlife wildlife technician, was involved in the reintroduction of desert bighorn sheep to the Trans Pecos. Here he explains how the wild sheep had died out due to disease brought in by domestic herds, and on account of overhunting to supply mining and railroad work crews.