LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Bighorn sheep at Hemenway Park are a beloved part of Boulder City, but over the years, a pneumonia outbreak caused the population that visits the park to dwindle.
The Nevada Department of Wildlife is testing the population to see where things stand currently — and gave FOX5 an inside look.
Pneumonia Outbreak
In 2013, the herd that visits Hemenway Park fell victim to pneumonia, Department of Wildlife Conservation Education Supervisor Doug Nielsen says.
“Since that time, this population has dwindled and stayed very small,” he says.
He says Hemenway Park used to hold up to 100 sheep, but now you’re lucky to find a couple dozen.
Even more heartbreaking: the effect the disease has on the herd’s babies.
Nielsen says because their immune systems are weak, they’re the first to succumb to the disease.
When FOX5 visited the park last week there were only two baby sheep, or lambs, next to their mothers. Nielsen says ten years ago, nearly every mom would have a baby by her side.
Testing the herd
The department wants to see where the population stands now, to see if they’re dealing with the same strand of pneumonia or a new one.
Nielsen says they’re hoping it’s the same.
“That’s a known factor, better the devil that you know than the one that you don’t,” he says.
He says the same strand will make it easier for the herd to rebound, and if not, they’ll have one more thing to fight.
Only FOX5 got an inside look at the department’s testing from Wildlife Biologist Joe Bennett, which starts with a tranquilizer dart to a sheep’s leg.
It’s a careful dance to hit the sheep in the right spot, and even more challenging to keep the sheep off the road after it is hit. Bennett says they tend to run off.
After the dart makes contact with the sheep’s leg, it only takes a few minutes for her to slow down and eventually fall asleep.
Now, it is time for them to take blood samples and a nasal swab. They’re checking to see which kind of pneumonia, if any, she has.
“We’re just making sure, keeping tabs on this population,” Bennett says. “It’s highly visible by the public. If there’s a new disease strain or something else, this is the best way that we can manage it,” he says.
Looking ahead
Unfortunately, Bennett says once a disease gets into a herd of sheep, it is very difficult to manage.
“There’s no antidote, there’s no cure. It’s not like humans or domestic animals where you got an antibiotic you can just give them and say ‘here you go,’” Bennett says.
But, both Bennett and Nielsen say they have hope the herd will grow back to its former size.
In the meantime, they say it serves a unique role in the community: to educate the public.
The department tested a total of eight sheep at Hemenway Park last week over two days.
They’re expecting the results from the tests to come back in four to five weeks.
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