Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks released a statement Thursday indicating that the department had to remove four bighorn sheep that had mixed with domestic sheep.
In an attempt to curb the spread of disease, officials followed Fish, Wildlife and Parks policy that dictates the killing of sheep. When wild and domestic animals mix, the risk of the transfer of diseases such as pneumonia is much too high as many bighorns can contract the disease through pathogens acquired from domestic sheep.
Part of a group of 25 bighorns that were moved in December from the Missouri Breaks to sheep hunting district 455, state officials killed four ewes south of Cascade. Earlier in the month, these four ewes were spotted roughly 20 miles away from the release site and were already mixing with domestic sheep.
“All of the area livestock operators were very cooperative,” Bertellotti said.
As the animals were still in good health, the wild sheep meat was donated to the local food bank.