NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Thursday, September 2, 2021
Bacteria ravages bighorn lambs
A2
same strain of Mycoplasma
ovipneumoniae bacteria
had infected bighorns in the
county’s other herd, in the
Burnt River Canyon between
Bridgeport and Durkee.
The Burnt River Canyon
bighorns, which previously
numbered about 85 animals,
are of the California subspe-
cies, which are somewhat
smaller than Rocky Moun-
tain bighorns.
Biologists believe all of
the 65 to 70 lambs born in the
Lookout Mountain herd in
the spring of 2020 died from
pneumonia, which results
from the bacterial infection.
Ratliff estimated at least
75 adult bighorns from the
Lookout Mountain herd also
died in 2020.
An aerial survey of the
herd in late 2020 turned up
about 250 sheep, compared
with 403 in a 2018 aerial
census.
To maintain the herd popu-
lation requires a minimum of
20 lambs per 100 ewes, Ratliff
said. The average ratio for the
Lookout Mountain herd is 38
lambs per 100 ewes, and the
number ranged from a high
of 67 per 100 to a low of 24.
Ratliff said biologists were
initially optimistic at the start
of this summer that the worst
of the outbreak had passed.
As of mid June, biologists
hadn’t found any dead lambs
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — A
bacterial infection continues
to wreak havoc on lambs in
Baker County’s two bighorn
sheep herds.
A state wildlife biologist
said officials will continue to
strive, through annual testing,
to identify adult sheep that
constantly shed the bacte-
ria, and then euthanize those
animals to try to protect the
herds.
“They’re not faring well
at all,” said Brian Ratliff,
district wildlife biologist at
the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s Baker
City office. “But I think
there’s a very good possibil-
ity that with enough effort,
and some luck, we will get
through this.”
The effort could take four
to five years, Ratliff said.
Biologists first became
aware of the problem in
February 2020, when dead
bighorns were found near
the Snake River Road at the
county’s eastern edge. Those
sheep are part of the Look-
out Mountain herd, Oregon’s
biggest herd of the Rocky
Mountain subspecies with
about 400 sheep prior to the
bacterial outbreak.
Later in 2020 biolo-
gists also confirmed the
became ill, then returned and
began spreading the bacteria
among Burnt River Canyon
sheep.
Source of bacteria
remains mystery
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
A group of bighorn sheep, including a lamb, in the Lookout Mountain unit in eastern Baker
County on June 20, 2020. A state wildlife biologist said it’s likely that no lambs born in 2020
survived an outbreak of pneumonia caused by a bacterial strain. The illness continues to kill
most lambs in the herd, and also is affecting the county’s other group of bighorns, in the
Burnt River Canyon.
from the 2021 crop, nor any
that were coughing or other-
wise appeared to be sick.
“We started out really,
really good,” Ratliff said.
But the situation quickly
turned bad.
Once ewes and lambs
started to congregate in large
groups, as they typically do
during summer, due in part to
Forecast for Pendleton Area
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TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Nice with plenty
of sun
Sunny and nice
Mostly sunny and
pleasant
Mostly sunny
Partly sunny and
pleasant
78° 50°
82° 54°
82° 47°
86° 50°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
86° 60°
86° 60°
89° 61°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
88° 60°
88° 56°
92° 61°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
74/50
74/44
80/48
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
78/53
Lewiston
81/50
82/49
Astoria
70/49
Pullman
Yakima 80/47
79/45
80/51
Portland
Hermiston
84/55
The Dalles 82/47
Salem
Corvallis
80/51
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
74/43
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
85/50
74/43
77/42
Ontario
84/50
Caldwell
Burns
75°
42°
86°
52°
101° (1967) 39° (1965)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
82/53
0.00"
0.00"
0.01"
1.93"
1.66"
5.32"
WINDS (in mph)
80/46
78/34
0.00"
0.00"
0.01"
4.37"
8.68"
8.66"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 71/41
85/52
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
78/50
86/52
72°
40°
85°
54°
102° (1893) 36° (1905)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
77/46
Aberdeen
74/49
79/55
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
77/53
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
87/52
Fri.
NNE 4-8
NNW 6-12
SW 3-6
N 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
79/38
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
6:18 a.m.
7:31 p.m.
1:09 a.m.
5:37 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
Sep 6
Sep 13
Sep 20
Sep 28
the scarcity of water sources,
people started reporting dead
lambs in the Lookout Moun-
tain unit, Ratliff said.
As of Monday, Aug. 30,
Ratliff said, ODFW knows
of just five lambs from the
Lookout Mountain unit that
have survived.
Ratliff said biologists
haven’t found any lambs in
the Burnt River Canyon herd,
although he said those sheep
are harder to track due to the
terrain.
Sheep in the Burnt River
Canyon began dying around
October 2020, and Ratliff
believes sheep from that herd
crossed Interstate 84 earlier in
the year, mingled with Look-
out Mountain bighorns and
Ratliff said biologists
don’t know how the Lookout
Mountain herd was initially
infected with the bacteria.
Mycoplasma ovipneumo-
niae bacteria are not known
to be carried by cattle, but
domestic sheep can be
infected.
Domestic sheep graze on
a public land allotment, over-
seen by the Bureau of Land
Management, in the Lookout
Mountain unit, Ratliff said.
None of the domestic sheep
that graze on that allotment
has been tested for the bacte-
ria.
Sheep from two other
domestic flocks near Rich-
land, at the north end of the
Lookout Mountain unit, were
tested in 2020 and none was
carrying the bacteria, Ratliff
said. A llama owned by a resi-
dent along the Snake River
Road also was tested and was
negative for the bacteria.
Ratliff said the strain of
bacteria in both Lookout
Mountain and Burnt River
Canyon herds has not been
detected in bighorns in Idaho,
which can potentially mingle
with Oregon bighorns.
Walla Walla man allegedly found
naked inside woman’s home
By JEDIDIAH MAYNES
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
WALLA WALLA — A
Walla Walla man recently
released from prison was
allegedly found naked inside
a stranger’s home and rear-
rested.
Jon P. Saunders, 37, had
his bail set at $25,000 for
the alleged crimes Monday,
Aug. 30, by Judge M. Scott
Wolfram in Walla Walla
County Superior Court.
Prosecutors filed charges
this week for residential
burglary — a Class B felony
— and two counts of sexu-
ally motivated indecent
exposure — Class C felo-
nies.
According to court docu-
ments, Saunders was first
spotted naked in the 1000
block of Hobson Street
shortly after 5 a.m. Friday,
Aug. 27.
A woman described
the man to Walla Walla
police officers, and as they
patrolled the neighbor-
hood they spotted someone
matching the description
naked inside a home in
the 1200 block of Hobson
Street, records showed.
Police knocked on the
door, and “about 10 seconds
later” heard a woman
screaming. She ran out of
the house and said there was
a strange man naked inside,
according to the documents.
Police entered the home
and found Saunders attempt-
ing to hide himself.
Officers said Saunders
appeared “very high” and
had scratches on his back.
Police arrested him.
The officer said they
found evidence that Saun-
ders may have broken in
through a dog door. They
also found the woman’s
garden shed had been
entered, and they report-
edly found pants in the shed
containing Saunders’ identi-
fication card, EBT card and
a bag of what they suspected
to be methamphetamine,
according to the court docu-
ments.
Saunders has had several
other previous felony convic-
tions, including his most
recent conviction in October
2020, when he was sentenced
to two years in prison,
according to the Washing-
ton Courts database.
However, many of Saun-
ders’ previous arrests and
felony charges had to do with
drug possession, which has
been deemed non-criminal
because of a ruling earlier
this year by the Washington
state Supreme Court.
According to the data-
base, at least one of his
felony convictions was
vacated in April.
Walla Walla County
Deputy Prosecuting Attor-
ney Michelle Morales said
in court that Saunders was
recently released from
prison and she held some
“serious concerns” about
his behavior.
“He terrified the woman
living at this residence,”
Morales said in requesting
the $25,000 bail.
Saunders was listed on
the online Walla Walla
County Jail roster as of Aug.
31.
Saunders is scheduled to
be arraigned Sept. 13 for the
new charges.
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 104° in Zapata, Texas Low 27° in Meacham, Ore.
IN BRIEF
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Work continues on
fire in Elkhorns
BAKER CITY — Fire-
fighters continued to work
Tuesday, Aug. 31, to douse
an 80-acre, human-caused
fire reported Aug. 30 in an
alpine area of the Elkhorn
Mountains about 13 air
miles northwest of Baker
City.
The exact cause of the
fire, which is in the upper
Rock Creek canyon about
1-1/4 miles northwest of
Rock Creek Lake, hasn’t
been determined, and the
investigation is continu-
ing, according to the
Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest.
The f ire is bur ning
mainly in subalpine fir
trees, according to Peter
Fargo, public affairs offi-
cer for the Wallowa-Whit-
man National Forest. Fires
can move rapidly in subal-
pine fir forests, as those trees
have high concentrations
of f lammable oil in their
needles, and their branches
tend to start near the ground,
making it easier for fire to
spread from the ground to
the trees’ crowns.
Because access is diffi-
cult in the area, with few
roads and steep terrain, the
initial attack on the fire Aug.
30 was largely from the air,
with air tankers dropping
retardant and helicopters
dumping water for several
hours.
The La Grande Inter-
agency Hot Shot 20-person
crew, a crew from the
Umatilla National Forest and
other firefighters from the
Wallowa-Whitman worked
on the blaze on Aug. 31.
—EO Media Group
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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