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Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
Bighorn sheep and bacteria
During the aerial survey this
month, he said he didn’t see any evi-
dence of sick sheep — bighorns that
develop pneumonia from the bacte-
ria typically cough and stumble. And
based on 2020 and 2021, it doesn’t
appear that the bacteria is aff ect-
ing the reproductive capacity of
the herd.
But again, because chronic shed-
ders usually aren’t themselves ill, the
absence of any obviously sick sheep
doesn’t mean the bacteria isn’t still
present, Ratliff said.
The key period will be the sum-
mer, when the ewes and lambs begin to
gather into their nursery groups, greatly
increasing the chance of spreading the
bacteria.
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
BAKER CITY — As the helicop-
ter fl ew over the ridges and canyons
of eastern Baker County last month,
Brian Ratliff was seeing more big-
horn sheep than he expected.
But the news wasn’t exclusively
of the good variety.
It was the sheep Ratliff didn’t
see during the fl ight over the Look-
out Mountain unit — lambs — that
defi ne the continuing threat to the
future of Oregon’s biggest herd of
Rocky Mountain bighorns.
Ratliff , the district wildlife biol-
ogist at the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s Baker City offi ce,
counted just four lambs during the
aerial census.
All of those lambs were in small
groups of sheep in the northern part
of the unit, which is bordered on
the north by Highway 86 and on the
south by Interstate 84.
The scarcity of lambs shows that
a bacterial infection remains wide-
spread in the Lookout Mountain unit
and puts the long-term health of the
herd in peril.
ODFW biologists believe all of
the 65 to 70 lambs born in the unit
in the spring of 2020 died due to the
same strain of Mycoplasma ovipneu-
moniae bacteria.
It was fi rst detected in the Look-
out Mountain herd, which included
about 400 bighorns, in February
2020 when dead sheep were found
near the Snake River Road above
Brownlee Reservoir.
Lab tests of tissue samples from
dead sheep confi rmed the strain of
bacteria, the fi rst time it had been
found in bighorn sheep in Oregon.
During an aerial count in late
2018, biologists counted 403 big-
horns in the Lookout Mountain unit.
A survey in late 2020 showed
about 250 sheep.
Ratliff said he expected about
225 in this year’s count, so he was
somewhat pleased by the total of 274
animals.
About 62% of the bighorns, how-
ever, were distributed among sev-
eral large groups in one canyon in the
south part of the unit.
Ratliff didn’t see any lambs in that
area.
He said that’s strong evidence that
the bacteria, which sheep can easily
spread among themselves, is still
present in those larger groups and
likely killed all of this year’s lambs.
Source remains a mystery
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald, File
A group of bighorn sheep, including a lamb, in the Lookout Mountain unit in eastern Baker County on June 20, 2020.
“In the smaller subgroups there’s
less chance of lambs being infected,”
Ratliff said.
Biologists were initially opti-
mistic in 2020, with no dead lambs
found as of mid June.
They knew, from earlier testing,
that lambs aren’t infected by their
mothers prior to birth.
But later in the summer of 2020,
as ewes and lambs started to con-
gregate in larger “nursery” groups,
lambs started to sicken and die.
Finding the ‘shedders’
The key to saving the Lookout
Mountain herd — and the smaller
herd of California bighorns, a smaller
subspecies, in the Burnt River Can-
yon south of I-84 — is fi nding the
sheep that are chronic “shedders” of
the bacteria that causes potentially
fatal pneumonia, Ratliff said.
That’s the focus of a multiagency
eff ort that started in 2020 and likely
will continue for several more years.
This campaign relies heavily on
temporarily capturing bighorns, test-
ing them for the bacteria, and fi tting
them with GPS tracking collars.
Chronic shedders often don’t get
sick, but they can quickly spread the
bacteria to other sheep that lack high
levels of immunity, Ratliff said.
Ewes that are chronic shedders
are especially problematic because
they mingle with other ewes, and
lambs, more often than rams, which
are either solitary or with other rams
much of the year.
Lambs are especially vulnerable,
as the nearly wholesale loss of the
youngest animals the past two years
attests.
Last fall, ODFW, with fi nancial
aid from the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Reservation,
as well as the Oregon and national
chapters of the Foundation for North
American Wild Sheep, captured 25
bighorns from the Lookout Moun-
tain herd. Although all 25 of those
sheep had antibodies in their blood
showing they had been infected with
the bacteria, just four of the 25 were
shedding bacteria at that time, Rat-
liff said.
Biologists fi tted all those sheep
with tracking collars so they can be
captured again and retested.
So far this fall, ODFW has cap-
tured, tested and collared 14 more
sheep from Lookout Mountain.
None was a chronic shedder,
Ratliff said, although test results
from two of the bighorns were
inconclusive, so it’s not clear
whether they are shedders or
not. One of the 14, a ewe, was a
chronic shedder identified in 2020,
Pierce plans campaign stop at airport
but was not shedding this fall.
Sheep that are trapped twice and
are chronically shedding both times
will be euthanized, Ratliff said.
So far, ODFW hasn’t euthanized
any bighorns from Lookout Moun-
tain since none has twice been identi-
fi ed as a chronic shedder.
Ratliff said it’s possible that the
herd could naturally recover from
the outbreak by virtue of the chronic
shedders dying naturally. Over time,
more sheep are likely to gain immu-
nity from a previous exposure to the
bacteria, as well.
On the other hand, just a few
chronic shedders could potentially
keep the bacteria circulating within
the herd, and decimating each year’s
crop of lambs.
“We’ve just got to fi gure out who
it is,” Ratliff said.
To maintain the herd population
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 has ranged from a high of 67
per 100 to a low of 24.
Looking ahead to 2022
Ratliff said he expects to see a typ-
ical crop of lambs born in the Look-
out Mountain herd late in the coming
spring.
Ratliff said biologists don’t know
how the Lookout Mountain herd was
initially infected with the bacteria.
Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae bac-
teria are not known to be carried by cat-
tle, but domestic sheep can be infected.
Domestic sheep graze on a public
land allotment, overseen by the Bureau
of Land Management, in the Lookout
Mountain unit, Ratliff said. None of the
domestic sheep that graze on that allot-
ment have been tested for the bacteria.
Sheep from two other domestic
fl ocks near Richland, at the north end
of the Lookout Mountain unit, were
tested in 2020 and none was carrying
the Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae bac-
teria, Ratliff said. A llama owned by a
resident along the Snake River Road
was also tested, and was also 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.
Sheep in the Burnt River Canyon
began dying around October 2020, and
Ratliff believes sheep from that herd
crossed I-84 earlier in the year, min-
gled with infected Lookout Mountain
bighorns and became ill, then returned
and began spreading the bacteria
among Burnt River Canyon sheep.
So far this fall, ODFW has
trapped and collared eight big-
horns from the Burnt River Canyon
herd, one of which was shedding the
bacteria.
ODFW hasn’t found any surviv-
ing lambs in the Burnt River Can-
yon herd, although those sheep are
more diffi cult to survey due to the
terrain.
Rep. Drazan to visit John Day Saturday
Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — Dr. Bud Pierce, a
candidate for the Republican nom-
ination in the Oregon governor’s
race, will make a campaign appear-
ance in John Day next week.
Pierce will be at the Grant County
Regional Airport, 72000 Airport
Road, on Wednesday, Jan. 12.
Dr. Bud
Pierce
According to
information from
the Pierce cam-
paign, the can-
didate will meet
with area residents
between 11 a.m.
and 1 p.m. in the
main conference
room at the airport
terminal. He will also be making
campaign stops that day in Ontario
and Baker City.
Pierce, a Salem physician, was
the GOP nominee in the 2016 guber-
natorial election, losing to incum-
bent Democrat Kate Brown.
Anyone wishing to attend the
John Day event is asked to RSVP by
email to info@budpierce.org.
State Rep. Christine
Drazan, one of more than
a dozen candidates seeking
the Republican nomination
for governor in this year’s
election, will visit John
Day this week.
Drazan, a Canby resi-
dent who serves as House
GOP candidate forum
in Burns on Saturday
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County Undersheriff Zach Mobley, second from left, poses
with his President’s Special Recognition Award from the Oregon
State Sheriff s’ Association. With him, from left, are Sgt. Wade
Waddell, Deputy Dave Dobler and Emergency Manager Eric Bush.
Grant Co. undersheriff
honored for service
Blue Mountain Eagle
BEND — Grant County
Undersheriff Zach Mobley
received the Oregon State
Sheriff s’ Association’s Pres-
ident’s Special Recognition
Award at a banquet during the
organization’s annual confer-
ence, held Dec. 5-9 in Bend.
Mobley served as chair
of the Oregon State Sher-
iff s’ Association Enforcement
Council for 2021.
The award was announced
in a press release by Grant
County
Sheriff
Todd
McKinley.
Nine GOP hopefuls for
two of the state’s highest
offi ces in this year’s elec-
tions will be on hand for a
forum and dinner in Burns
this weekend.
Billed as the “Republican
Roundup,” the event is spon-
sored by the Harney County
Republicans and will be held
on Saturday, Jan. 8, at the
Burns Elks Lodge, 118 N.
Broadway Ave.
Six of the 13 candidates
seeking the GOP nomination
for governor will be in atten-
dance. They are Christine
Drazan, Jessica Gomez, Nick
Hess, Kerry McQuisten, Bran-
don Merritt and Bud Pierce.
Last Week’s Temps
John Day ...........................................................HI/LO
Wednesday ..................................................... 26/13
Thursday .......................................................... 35/19
Friday .................................................................... 4/7
Saturday .......................................................... 31/19
Sunday ............................................................. 33/26
Monday............................................................ 38/31
Tuesday ........................................................... 38/28
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Also appearing will be
three of the contenders to
challenge Democrat Ron
Wyden for his U.S. Senate
seat: Grant County Commis-
sioner Sam Palmer, Darin
Harbick of Rainbow and Jo
Rae Perkins of Albany.
The festivities will begin
with a reception and social
hour at 4:30 p.m., followed
by dinner at 5:30. The can-
didates will be on stage
by 6.
Dinner tickets cost $35
and are available in advance
or at the door. To RSVP, pur-
chase tickets or submit ques-
tions for the candidates, con-
tact Gretchen Heldt Bates
at
harneycorepublicans@
gmail.com or 541-589-0915.
State Rep.
Christine Drazan
minority leader, will
be at the Squeeze-In
Restaurant
and
Deck, 423 W. Main
St., from 11:30 a.m.
to 1 p.m. on Satur-
day, Jan. 8, to meet
with local residents
and talk about her
bid for the gover-
nor’s office.
OBITUARIES
Shawn Dale Nebeker
Sept. 6, 1967 — Dec. 28, 2021
Shawn Dale Nebeker passed away in Phoenix, Arizona, Dec. 28
due to complications following COVID-19. He was 54.
Shawn was born on Sept. 6, 1967, in Burley, Idaho, to his par-
ents, John Dale and Bertha Moore Kruse. He graduated from Thur-
ston High School, Springfi eld, Oregon, in 1985. He worked for
George’s Shop N’ Rock in Vale, Oregon,
during the late ’90s and Pinal County in
Casa Grande, Arizona, at the time of his
death. He was a volunteer EMT for Vale
Fire and Ambulance for 11 years. If you
were blessed to know Shawn, you knew
he was hilarious, generous, stubborn and
would do anything for anyone. His laugh
was contagious, and his heart was huge.
Shawn is survived by his sons, Harry
Colton Nebeker and Kyle Nebeker; his
mother and stepfather, Bert and Doug
Kruse; twin sister, Shauna Phillips; sisters Lynda Reynolds and
Merna Bennett; and many friends who loved him fi ercely. He was
preceded in death by his father, John Dale Nebeker, on Nov. 17, 2021.
Shawn will be cremated and his ashes spread at Duck Lake, per
his request. A memorial will take place on May 14 at 10 a.m. at the
Geiser-Pollman Park, Baker City, Oregon. All are welcome to attend
and celebrate Shawn’s life.
W EATHER F ORECAST FOR THE WEEK OF J AN . 5-11
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