BIG ARM — Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has captured about 40 bighorn sheep from Wildhorse Island in Flathead Lake for transplant to other areas in the state.
Twenty of the sheep captured Friday were headed for the Berray Mountain herd in Sanders County, and another 20 for the Kootenaie Falls Wildlife Management Area west of Libby.
Biologists said the main purpose of the transplant is to reduce the number of sheep on the island.
“This is the most unique herd of bighorn sheep in the United States,” said Jim Weatherly, executive director of the Montana Wild Sheep Foundation, which paid for the helicopter pilot and others who captured the sheep. “The island has no predators, so you don’t lose a lot of lambs, and it’s a great rookery to raise sheep. The population on the island has almost doubled in just two years.”
However, officials say the 2,163-acre island can’t sustain large numbers of sheep. Before the transplant, officials said the Island had about 200 sheep, twice as many as the island’s habitat can support.
“It’s been a real gem to augment and start other herds,” FWP spokesman John Fraley said of the island. “We use it as a nursery herd.”
Thirty-nine sheep were removed from the island in January 2008 and released at Kootenaie Falls. But officials estimate only about 40 percent of them survived because of the brutal winter that year.
That’s part of the reason this year’s sheep capture was taking place seven weeks later in the year.
“This year there’s virtually no snow where they’re being taken and any more snow we get now isn’t going to last for too long,” said Weatherly.
But biologists with Fish, Wildlife and Parks said capturing bighorns later in the season increases the risk of the bighorns overheating and possibly dying due to the stress. The bighorns are captured with nets fired from the low-flying helicopter.
“If they come in at 104, we get concerned,” said Neil Anderson, FWP wildlife lab supervisor.
Volunteers and agency employees poured cold water on the sheep to cool them down while they were examined. The sheep were also given vitamin E shots, as well as selenium, to boost their immune systems, before being put into trucks for the drive to their new homes.