WILDLIFE -- More bad news for bighorn sheep.

Six young bighorns that escaped the fence around the 19,000-acre National Bison Range near Ravalli, Mont., were shot last week in a measure to confront disease that's been killing the wild sheep on several fronts.

Sport hunting for bighorns in that portion of the Cabinet Mountains will be closed this fall.

Bighorn die-off prompts Montana to close hunting district near Plains
An aerial survey in early April of Hunting District 122 in Western Montana found just 18 bighorn sheep, the lowest number since the herd was reintroduced into the area in 1979. State wildlife officials said the deaths of 90 sheep in the area over the past two years was likely due to pneumonia picked up from domestic herds that wintered in the area in 2012 and 2013.

Due to the die-off, the state closed the hunting district for this year.
--Missoulian