Human dimensions and mountain sheep

Abstract

We review components of the human dimension relationship between mountain sheep (bighorn sheep [Ovis canadensis] thinhorn [Ovis dalli]) and mankind. The relationships people hold with nature are incorporated into policymaking, regulation, and funding of wildlife management. Bighorn sheep experienced a massive decline in range and population size during the 19th century due to human occupation of foothills and overgrazing by domestic sheep. This encroachment led to significant habitat loss, unregulated harvesting, and the spread of diseases from domestic sheep to mountain sheep. Efforts to restore populations to their former ranges were influenced by the value of mountain sheep as recreational game species and for wildlife viewing. Restoration brought many bighorn populations into contact with people because the remaining habitat was already subjected to urban expansion. The population declines, fragmentation of habitat, and narrowing of bighorn ranges have had a profound effect on public opinion toward the species, shifting the animal from an accessible source of food through subsistence hunting to a species of conservation concern with limited harvest opportunities. Studies investigating the relationship between humans and mountain sheep have largely focused on the implications of human activities on mountain sheep, including conflict and disturbance, evolutionary pressure from selective hunting, attitudes toward the management of mountain sheep and relevant predator species, and human-wildlife conflict resulting from livestock disease spillover. Human attitudes are understudied. Although strides have been made in restoring mountain sheep populations and their habitats, the species’ population has been reduced compared to historical estimates and its original distribution. As a result, hunting for mountain sheep is often provided as once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Mountain sheep populations have increased, thanks to partnerships between state and federal governments, and efforts by non-government organizations that provide funding for translocations, research, habitat restoration, disease control, predator management, educational initiatives, and Tribal Nations.