Beautiful wildlife Southern B.C.'s bighorn sheep

 

Southern B.C.'s bighorn sheep at 

risk from disease

Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun  01.23.2015

An document prepared for Environment Minister Mary Polak states

that surveys of the Ashnola/

Similkameen bighjorn sheep population show a 50-per-cent reduction 

from 2006 to 2013.

Tim Simmons, chief flying instructor with HNZ Topflight, lands in a 

cirque in the Snowy Protected Area during a mountain flying course 

for a Canadian Forces search-and-rescue pilot.HNZ Topflight

 

 

An document prepared for Environment Minister Mary Polak states that surveys of the Ashnola/

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

 Snowy Protected Area about 30 kilometres southwest of Keremeos.




Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Southern+bighorn+sheep+risk+

from+disease/10752442/story.html