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Black Bear
The return of the Bighorn Sheep
Prior to the 20th century, there were reports of significant numbers of desert Bighorns in the area
now known as Zion National Park. However, the population gradually declined. This decline was
due primarily to development of the land by settlers, who blocked access to water, planted crops,
and brought in livestock that not only competed with the Bighorns for grazing land but also intro-
duced diseases. Another problem for the Bighorns came with construction of the Zion-Mt. Carmel
Highway and Tunnel in the 1920s, which effectively chopped the Bighorn's range in half. Park of-
ficials estimated that by the 1930s, there were about 25 Bighorns in the park, and, by the late
1950s, there were none left.
Reintroduction efforts began in the mid-1960s, although it was not until 1973 that a dozen desert
Bighorns were captured in southern Nevada and brought to the park, where they were kept in
an 80-acre enclosure. By 1976, there were 22 Bighorns, still trapped in the enclosure, and park
service wildlife biologists decided to release 13, moving them by helicopter to an isolated canyon
in the southeastern corner of the park. Unfortunately, by the next year only 4 of the 13 had sur-
vived in the wild (many were killed by mountain lions), and this part of the reintroduction effort was
considered a failure. By 1978, the population of the Bighorns that remained in the enclosure had
increased to 20, and they were released into the park. Although nine died over the course of the
next year, this release was considered a success.
Today there are at least 65 Bighorns at Zion and sightings are fairly common. It appears that the
herd is making a successful comeback, both in terms of reproduction and range expansion. Park
officials believe the park could support at least twice as many desert Bighorns, but for the time
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