Similkameen bighjorn sheep population show a
50-per-cent reduction from 2006 to 2013.
Wild
bighorn sheep in southern B.C. are threatened by a new, devastating
disease and the province
is urging a helicopter company to help out by
curtailing training flights over important habitat in a
protected area, a
freedom-of-information document reveals.
The province is
concerned that flights by Penticton-based HNZ Topflight could be adding
unnecessary
stress, noting that “current helicopter use in Snowy
Protected Area conflicts directly with rutting
(breeding) areas and
season and migration routes to
winter ranges.”
HNZ offers a
three-week mountain flying course for about $50,000. About 250 to 300
experienced
pilots take the course annually, mostly from the Canadian
military, RCMP and search-and-rescue
agencies, the company says.
Surveys
of the Ashnola/Similkameen sheep population show a 50-per-cent
reduction from 485
animals from 2006 to 2013, according to an
“information note” for Environment Minister Mary Polak.
“A highly
contagious disease, new to Canada (psoroptic sheep mange) is now
affecting the population
and is of significant concern.”
First
discovered in the population in 2011, the mange turned up in 2012 in
isolated 25,889-hectare
from+disease/10752442/story.html