Lawsuit: Bighorn Sheep Threatened by Domestic Sheep Grazing

WOODS NOTE: I operated the Medical Veterinary Entomology Lab at NMSU 1979-1985. Desert bighorn sheep contacted scabies at white sands missile range and eventual killed off that population. They, US Fish and Wildlife, NM Game and Fish want to blame domestic livestock. Even though there was very limited access to the range by livestock and even more limited interaction between domestic livestock and wild desert bighorn sheep. I had at the lab desert bighorn sheep and other wildlife and we did cross transmission studies, Dr. Kinzer was the Principal Investigator, I was the technician. We did this for a number of years, physical moving mite from one species to another, in such a manner the mite had absolute advantage. We could not accomplish it there was no transmission. Think how absurd this is. Domestic livestock are vaccinated, and well cared for. Sick animals are isolated and treated. I do believe that it is more likely that wildlife will expose domestic livestock to disease, and because of best management practices, what I grew up as animal husbandry, the disease is contained or mitigated. I think that domestic livestock may help reduce impact of disease on wildlife. Where there is livestock insect vectors are control to reduce transmission of diseases. Eliaophera in Elk, cause Elk to go blind, in the Gila wilderness in the early 70's cause as much a 2/3 of all elk death. This disease is a parasitic disease with a complicated life cycle which required transmission by green headed horse fly. By controlling the fly population, treating livestock with insecticide, this disease has been significantly reduced. Lawsuit: Bighorn Sheep Threatened by Domestic Sheep Grazing The New York Times The Associated Press The U.S. Forest Service is illegally jeopardizing a small herd of bighorn sheep with deadly diseases by allowing thousands of domestic sheep to graze in eastern Idaho as part of agricultural research activities, environmental groups have said in a lawsuit. Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians in the lawsuit filed Tuesday contend the grazing of sheep owned by the University of Idaho via permits issued to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Sheep Experiment Station risks transmitting diseases to bighorn sheep. "It's unjustifiable for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Idaho to expose wild bighorn to deadly pathogens for the sake of a few months of free forage on the national forest," Scott Lake, Idaho director for Western Watersheds Project, said in a statement. "The value of native wildlife far exceeds whatever the state and federal government will get out of taking this chance." The lawsuit challenges the Forest Service's authorization of the grazing allotments in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, an area also used by a herd of about 36 South Beaverhead Rocky Mountain bighorns. Environmentalists say disease has prevented the herd from growing and that allowing the domesticated sheep to graze there increases health risks for bighorns because they could be sickened through contact with the domesticated sheep. The groups contend the federal agency is violating environmental laws by allowing the grazing this fall and winter before completing an environmental analysis. The groups in the lawsuit noted that courts have previously recognized the high risk of disease transmission from domestic to wild sheep. The groups are asking the court to prevent any sheep from being released into the area until after the environmental analysis is finished. Currently, domestic sheep can start grazing on Nov. 6.