Bighorns Relocated

Hells Canyon

Bighorn sheep captured near Jasper National Park in Alberta were released Feb. 12 on both sides of the Snake River in Hells Canyon National Recreation Area.

Of the 19 bighorns brought to the United States, three ewes and three lambs were released on the Idaho side of the river to supplement 16 trapped in British Columbia and released at the same site last year.

On the Oregon side, 13 sheep, including lambs and ewes, were released this year.

The sheep from last year’s relocation raised 10 lambs. Going into the winter, the herds included 22 sheep in Idaho and 12 in Oregon.

Bighorn sheep were once common in Hells Canyon but were extirpated in the first half of this century by a combination of human-caused factors, including market hunting and disease transmitted from domestic sheep. Restoration has been ongoing since 1971.

Hells Canyon provides outstanding habitat for bighorns, which are enjoyed by Snake River boaters.

In the late 1980s and early ‘90s, the bighorns were thriving. Record-book rams were being taken by special-permit hunters in Idaho, Oregon and Washington until a bacterial pneumonia epidemic ran through the herd and killed more than 100 of the canyon’s bighorns during the winter of 1995-1996.