Bighorn losing home on range

I see the Idaho Wool Growers and Shirt Brothers Sheep are suing Idaho Fish and Game over the existence of bighorn sheep on public grazing lands. Considering domestic sheep are causing the extinction of bighorn sheep, you’d think the state would ban them on public lands.

Last month the wild horses and burros were being evicted from their lands because drought has reduced the amount of grass available. So why are they allowing cattle to graze those same lands?

Somewhere along the line our public grazing lands were handed over to commercial interests for next to nothing. We only get the land back after it’s been overgrazed and the water sources polluted. Why are we allowing this to happen?

Public lands should be used to graze public-owned animals only – in other words, wildlife – while we still have some left. We can import beef from Argentina and wool from Australia a whole lot cheaper than they can produce it here, but our wildlife is irreplaceable.

Judith M. Jones

Spokane