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Dear John,

Just a couple of days ago, Texas Parks and Wildlife released a herd of
Desert Bighorn Sheep into El Paso’s Franklin Mountains.

The reintroduction of the Bighorn to this part of West Texas is the
culmination of a decades-long effort to restore the sheep to their
historical range in the U.S. Southwest and Mexico. Their population first
shrank during the explosive growth of livestock in West Texas at the turn
of the last century. Domestic sheep and goats dominated the food and water
resources against the much smaller number of Bighorn. By 1945, only 35 of
them were recorded in the wild.

To make matters worse, non-native Barbary sheep, known as Aoudads, were
introduced in the 1940s to Texas and have proliferated at an astonishing
rate, coming at the expense of the beleaguered Bighorn. The Aoudads are a
tougher breed and their ability to dominate food and water resources
leaves their smaller cousins at a significant disadvantage. They also
carry a bacterium that is fatal to Bighorn.

It is for those reasons that Texas Parks and Wildlife moved the herd to
the Franklin Mountain State Park in El Paso, to see if a new start in an
old home might save the species. The Franklins form the largest urban
state park in the country. Plenty of land to roam, and no competition from
Aoudads for food and water.

I just thought I’d share this good news and let you know that I’ll be up
in the Franklins this weekend looking for Bighorn.

I hope all is well with you,

Beto

 




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