LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Dozens of Bighorn Sheep call Hemenway Park home, but the staple in the Boulder City community could be at risk.
New test results from the Nevada Department of Wildlife show the population is “struggling,” according to the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s Southern Region Game Supervisor Joe Bennett.
Bennett says the herd was first infected with pneumonia about ten years ago. He says since then, the Hemenway Park population has dwindled from about 350, to under 200.
In August, FOX5 joined NDOW as they tested the herd to see where they stood.
Bennett says those results show the population is now battling a new strain of pneumonia. Of the 11 sheep tested, three tested positive for the new strain.
“When you get a secondary strain or secondary infections, they might have been coping with the first one pretty well, but then you throw this on top of it, and it is like throwing another virus when you have a bacterial infection, of course you’re not going to do as well,” Bennett says.
The herd’s babies are most susceptible to the disease, which explains why the population is dwindling. Bennett says if they continue to see new infections in the herd, it could get to the point where there aren’t enough breeding-aged sheep to sustain the population.
But, he says there’s no need to panic yet.
“You still have a lot of adults on the landscape that are surviving and persisting through the disease, through that infection, so that’s what gives you the chance to wait and see,” Bennett says.
He says only time will tell if the herd is able to clear this new infection, and the department will have a much better sense of their next steps in a few years.
In the meantime, he says they’ll continue to test the population for pneumonia every couple of years, but what they’re really waiting to see is how many babies are surviving.
The herd at Hemenway Park is not the only Bighorn sheep herd battling pneumonia in Nevada. Bennett says the only population free of the disease is in the Muddy Mountains.
Copyright 2025 KVVU. All rights reserved.
