How are bighorns doing in their return to El Paso?

A long-gone and once highly celebrated resident of the El Paso region returned last December. 

The desert bighorn sheep disappeared from the Franklin Mountains nearly 100 years ago. They were reintroduced by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as part of a broader effort to save the species in Texas – and the El Paso herd is considered critical to the species overall.

Matthew Montoya, a park ranger at Franklin Mountains State Park, joined Texas Standard in El Paso with an update on the park’s sheep. 

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: Back in December, 77 bighorn sheep were transported from Big Bend region and relocated here to our state park. How are they doing? I understand there are a few babies this spring? 

Matthew Montoya: Yeah, a little bit more than a few, I would say. So we have about 17 babies so far, potentially more being born, so good numbers for sure. Great body conditions of these bighorn. They’re doing pretty well, it seems. 

Why did the bighorn sheep disappear from this area? 

So it would be the same reasons as they disappeared from basically all over the country. These bighorn have unfortunately experienced a lot of problems with disease, different types of sicknesses. Unregulated hunting is gonna be a big one. Those are really gonna be the main issues that they’re facing. 

I would imagine that once this news broke from folks like Angela reporting on it, this must be a big draw for visitors at the park. 

Absolutely. You know, when we had the release back in December, it attracted a ton of people. Maybe some people were there here in the audience.

But yeah, it was a super cool experience. It was basically like a huge flashpoint. Ever since that, a lot more people seem to be coming down to the park. We get people asking all the time every day, “hey, where can I see them?” And we love to point them in the right direction, because it is possible to see them, absolutely. 

» MORE: Protecting Texas’ bighorn sheep requires a hands-on approach

It is hard to see them, though – they blend right in, which is part of their survival trait. Well, talking about survival: Why is this region so important? Originally, this was not considered a prime location to reintroduce them, but now it’s really seen as key because of the urban areas surrounding the park. Talk to us a little bit about that and the disease that’s threatening these sheep.

So this location, like you said, it was kind of an out-of-the-box solution to this problem. We’re thinking, “oh, this is an urban state park. How can these sheep do well here in the middle of the city of almost basically a million people? How can they thrive?”

And it actually is almost like a perfect solution, because it serves almost like an island. These sheep are not really going to be able to get out of here, and other things that are gonna threaten them are not gonna be able to get in.

And specifically, I’m referring to M. ovi, so mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, which is a disease that’s threatening our bighorns. It’s carried primarily by sheep, goats, from the old world. And specifically it’s gonna be an invasive North African goat called the aoudad. So we don’t have any here in the Franklin Mountains, which was a huge, huge factor about bringing them over here.

So as you look ahead, what do you see in terms of this population being able to thrive? And really, you’re going to use some of this population to help the rest of the state with bighorn sheep.

That’s correct. I think that’s kind of the plan going forward, potentially using this as a nice resource. Originally, these sheep, like you said, they come from the Big Bend region, specifically Elephant Mountain. Elephant Mountain is surrounded, basically, by a bunch of different other little mountains open. There’s always a threat of that disease getting in there. But it’s still safe, a safe place.

But the Franklin Mountains, since we’re having a great lamb crop this year, we’re hoping you know, that’ll continue next year. And it’s looking like it’s going to, because these guys are doing really good. We would like some more rain for sure. But we’re relying on them basically adapting to this.

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