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Billings, Mont. • Montana wildlife officials want to be able to move bighorn sheep out of the state after running into trouble finding suitable places for the animals in the Treasure State. A request is pending from South Dakota to receive transplanted bighorn sheep this winter. Washington state and Nebraska have requested animals during the winter of 2015-16, officials said.
Since 1939, more than 2,700 sheep have been trapped in Montana for transplant to augment or start new herds. That has helped restore a population that was severely reduced to a small number of remnant bands by 1930, after the settlement of the West brought disease, competition from livestock and subsistence hunting.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks representatives will make their case for the change during a Wednesday meeting of state wildlife commissioners in Bozeman.
Some in-state relocation sites that have been suggested have been too close to domestic sheep and goats that can spread disease.