Wildlife managers: Teton mountain goats must go

JACKSON – Aloft in a helicopter surveying the Tetons the other week, Aly Courtemanch again spotted mountain goats in new nooks of the range.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologist also saw something concerning her and other wildlife managers in the region: native bighorn sheep mingling with their exotic mountain-dwelling relatives.

“Again this winter we saw goats expanding into some bighorn wintering areas,” Courtemanch said. “And we actually did see a bighorn sheep ram very close to a group of mountain goats in Upper Cascade Canyon. They might be sharing the same little patch of winter habitat.”

She estimated the distance from sheep to goats at 30 yards.

That proximity is potentially perilous for Teton’s bighorn sheep herd, which has never been exposed to a number of deadly pathogens that the goats, migrants from the Snake River Range, are known to harbor. Species-to-species transmission is possible at any time, and could result in an outbreak of deadly pneumonia that could diminish the bifurcated bighorn herd, which numbers just 100 head. Disease could wipe out the entire bighorn bunch due to its small size.

Read more: https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/from_the_wire/wildlife-managers-teton-mountain-goats-must-go/article_5366cd4c-09a6-11e9-93fb-03df13d7db79.html


Mountain goats are seen in Death Canyon at Grand Teton National Park. Courtesy