COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The bighorn sheep often photographed at Garden of the Gods are descendants of sheep that were originally destined for Pikes Peak.
The mishap resulted in one of the healthiest herds in Colorado as efforts continue to bring the state mammal back from near extinction. Later this morning, News5 will provide coverage on some of the work that is being done to conserve this species and help it thrive.
News5 had the unique opportunity to tag along with Terrestrial Biologist Ty Woodward of Colorado Parks and Wildlife this week as he readied a bait site for a capture and relocate operation that is scheduled in the near future. Woodward and others have been working for a few years on a plan to relocate some of the bighorn sheep from the Rampart herd to create a new herd in an area where there was a fire 10 years ago,
Woodward chuckled as he explained the story itself of how the Rampart herd came to be, by accident.
"A story that we like to tell when we're talking about the Rampart Range herd is about the initiation of this herd," Woodward said with about 50 members of the herd behind him. "In the early 1900s bighorn sheep on a whole weren't doing so well statewide. Colorado is one of the first states to initiate an actual trap and translocation process to try and conserve these big horn sheep in the state."
Woodward went on to explain that in the 1940s an operation was underway to relocate sheep from the Tarryall herd in Park County to Pikes Peak to supplement the herd on America's Mountain. The Pikes Peak herd is a "legacy" herd. But the truck transporting the bighorn only made it to Green Mountain Falls.
"The truck experienced mechanical issues, and the decision was made to go ahead and release those sheep in doing so, the thought was that the sheep would find the most suitable habitat nearby, which was Pikes Peak," Woodward explained. "Instead of heading south, they headed north, they ended up over here on the Rampart Range and established the herd that we have here today."
Not all of the sheep in that initial group made the trip to the Rampart Range area in the 1940s. At least one was reportedly hit and killed by a train.
"I always kind of laugh at, well, maybe not laugh is a good term," Woodward said with a smile recalling the history of the herd. "I always think back to the irony that this herd has now been used to supplement the Tarryall herd. So that gets back to the issues that we have with disease outbreaks and die-offs within our bighorn sheep herds, what was once one of the the largest herds in the state, and a source of translocation, is now a recipient of those translocations due to a large-scale die off."
In the late 1800s, experts with Colorado Parks and Wildlife estimate there were just a few hundred bighorn sheep left in the Centennial State because of disease and market hunting. Presently, they estimate about 7,000 sheep and 80 herds roam Colorado.
CLICK HERE FOR A LOOK AT THE WORK THAT GOES BEHIND A BIGHORN SHEEP CAPTURE IN COLORADO.
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