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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Rancher May Lose Permit His Sheep Blamed For Infecting Hells Canyon Bighorns

Associated Press

A sheep rancher accused of letting his flocks transmit a lethal pneumonia to bighorn sheep in the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area said he can’t believe his operation is responsible for the outbreak.

Environmentalists, hunters and the Nez Perce Tribe have filed for an injunction in federal court to stop Oliver Wentz of Riley, Ore., from grazing his sheep in the deep gorge.

“It’s an absolute tragedy, what’s occurring there,” said Pete Frost, a National Wildlife Federation attorney.

“We’re unwilling to have all the bighorn sheep in the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area die off because of one domestic herd.”

The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest already has called for the grazing permit to be terminated by October. That action is being appealed in federal court.

Wentz, who pays about $15,000 a year for the permit, is allowed to graze about 4,000 sheep. He currently runs about 1,000.

Wentz said he cannot believe his sheep caused the problem because his operation is 70 miles from the outbreak site. His flocks are far from the die-off sites in Idaho and southeastern Washington near the Grand Ronde River.

“I don’t think the poor little lambs should be blamed for that trouble with the bighorns,” Wentz said. “If they can blame us and we’re so far away, they’ll kick all the sheep out of the rural West for wildlife habitat.”

Seventy-two bighorns were brought to Idaho Fish and Game’s Wildlife Research Clinic near Caldwell in December after at least 35 more already had died in the wild.

But the number of sheep which are succumbing at the lab has risen to 40.

“This damn stuff is doing something we’ve never observed before,” said Lloyd Oldenburg, Fish and Game big game research manager. “It’s a major, major situation.”

“Our analysis found that domestic sheep do transmit Pasteurella (Haemolytica) to wild sheep,” said Kurt Wiedemann, planning staff officer for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. “We looked at herding sheep, using dogs, using a vaccine. None of these provided the assurance you would need to protect bighhorn herds.”

The Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento-based non-profit law center that supports property rights, said terminating Wentz’s grazing permit would set an alarming precedent that could hurt rural economies.

“It goes beyond Hells Canyon; it goes beyond domestic sheep. It could lead to the elimination of traditional and valid uses of many areas,” said Sharon Brown, a center attorney.