Epic Sh!t with Sam Cunningham and Glen Landrus

We welcome Sam Cunningham and Glen Landrus to the podcast. Sam is President of the Texas Bighorn Society and he is joined by Chair of the WIld Sheep Foundation, Glen Landrus.

The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) and Texas Bighorn Society (TBS) partnered with Wild Sheep Foundation as catalysts and funding partners for the establishment of a new disease-free population of desert bighorn sheep.

 

Historically, desert bighorn sheep were native to Texas. With the settlement of the Trans-Pecos Region of Texas, native wild sheep populations declined rapidly, becoming extirpated by 1960. TPWD, the TBS, private landowners, and dedicated sportsmen and women successfully collaborated to restore desert bighorns to many historic mountain ranges. 



By 2019, the Texas desert bighorn population stood at between 1,200 and 1,500 animals. Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (Movi) struck and eventually spread to most of the state’s populations. It eventually decreased the state’s population by more than half. However, unlike most outbreaks, which are caused by contact with domestic sheep, this one came through interactions with aoudad.

Because of these losses, this translocation will have a last impact. The Elephant Mountain population was the only herd in the state available to move wild sheep from to establish other populations. Now, the state has a second disease-free source population where, hopefully, a surplus number of bighorns will support future translocations of desert sheep to suitable habitats in the Trans-Pecos.

Talk is Sheep is the Official Podcast of the Wild Sheep Society of BC. The official sponsor of the Wild Sheep Society of BC is SITKA Gear and our Conservation Partners - Frontiersmen Gear, Gunwerks, OnX Maps, Precision Optics, Schnee's, Stone Glacier, Wild TV, YETI and Zeiss.