Hard Truths of Conservation (2022) s01e09 Episode Script

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- Bighorn sheep live in the
western mountainous regions
of North America, ranging
from Canada to Mexico.
Mature males have
large, curved horns.
The horns are used as tools
for eating and fighting.
Females also have horns,
but are shorter with
a slight curvature.
These remarkable animals are
perfectly adapted to life
in some of our planet's
harshest environments.
Most of the current bighorn
sheep introductions are funded
through hunter-based
organizations
like the Wild Sheep Foundation
as well as private
foundations and individuals.
Hunting has become a
controversial practice
in modern times.
My name is Dan Cabela, and
I'm traveling the globe
to explore the true impact
that hunting is having
on our remaining
wild landscapes.
This practice goes as far back
as human history can remember,
but does it have a place
in modern conservation?
There have been bighorn
sheep living in North America
for thousands of years.
It is a North America icon
and is the official animal
of the state of Nevada.
Human expansion and disturbance
has a negative impact
on bighorn herds as sheep
are not able to live
near areas of human activity.
Habitat loss and fragmentation
by urban development
are examples of this.
Also, drought and
the warming climate
have a negative impact.
Competition from domestic
livestock is also a major issue
not only for resources, but
also the threat of disease,
particularly
pneumonia and mange.
We are headed to
Nevada to participate
in a hands-on sheep
conservation initiative.
The Cabela Family
Foundation is working
with the Nevada Department
of Wildlife to capture, test,
and remove Movi-infected
California bighorn sheep
from the Santa Rosa Range.
We're about two hours
outside of Winnemucca.
We left about 3:00
AM this morning.
We've gotten out into
a very remote area,
pretty rugged roads, and
I'm really looking forward
to putting my hands on
some live bighorn sheep.
That's something
I've never done,
and this is gonna be a great
day for sheep conservation.
Morning, you must be Jack.
- Dan, how are you?
- Good.
- Pleasure to meet
you in person.
How was your ride up?
- [Dan] It was a bit
rugged, a little bumpy,
but I guess that's the
environment we're in,
so expected a little bit.
- Welcome to Nevada.
Good outdoors, good sunshine.
Little cloud cover
today keep us cool.
But we have sheep coming
in here in a minute.
Helicopter's actually up.
You're gonna get your
hands on a sheep here
just in a few minutes,
so we're ready to roll.
- I can't wait for that.
- Oh, it's gonna be a great
day, appreciate you being here.
- [Dan] Bighorn sheep
in the Santa Rosa Range
first became infected with
mycoplasma ovipneumoniae,
better known as Movi,
in November of 2003.
- Mycoplasma is a bacteria.
It came initially
from domestic sheep.
And in domestic sheep,
it doesn't really cause
too many problems.
In bighorn sheep, it
initiates this cascade
of bacterial
infection that leads
to really severe
pneumonia and kills sheep.
What happens over
time, though, is
after the initial
die off of sheep,
some survive and they become
what we call chronic shedders.
So they continuously
shed the bacteria,
and then every year the
new lambs become infected
with that bacteria and they die.
And so after a time, the
population starts aging out,
your population starts
shrinking and you don't have
that recruitment to
replace your animals
that are dying
from other causes.
So what we're trying to
do here is we're testing
all these animals to find
those chronic shedders.
When we find those
chronic shedders,
we're gonna remove them
from the population
and hopefully allow that
lamb recruitment to recover.
We've already had
some success here
at the southern
end of the range.
We did the first stages of
the test and remove program
in the last couple
years down there.
And this year we had really
excellent lamb recruitment
for the first time.
(gentle music)
(gentle music)
- [Dan] Capturing bighorn sheep
in the mountains
is no easy task.
- Logistically, this is
one of the toughest things
that we could
probably accomplish
just because we are moving for
miles and miles days on end
to try to get every
population sampled.
- It takes a team like this
to have a positive impact
on the conservation
of these sheep,
and everybody is doing
their part to make sure
that we have a
successful initiative.
We are undertaking
to capture and test
as many sheep as
possible this morning.
And we'll be weighing,
measuring, and x-raying them
as well as collecting
samples to test
for various diseases,
including Movi.
There's extreme heat
here in the summertime,
so our aim is to
finish by mid-morning.
The helicopter team will
fly into the mountains
to locate the sheep,
and after located,
they'll hang out with no
doors on the helicopter
and they'll net gun these sheep.
It's a dangerous
business for sure,
but these guys are
prepared for it.
- The helicopter, it's a MD 500,
so it's a great
little helicopter.
It's very dynamic
and very nimble,
so it's perfect for
this kind of work.
Mike is a extremely
skilled pilot,
but he's also having
the wildlife background.
He really knows how
to read the animal
and what it's about to
do and where it's likely
to be heading, which
is quite critical
to maneuver it safely
to a spot safely
for the animal and safely
for us as the crew.
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(blades whirring)
Any interaction that humans
have with wildlife is intrusive.
And so as a crew,
as a capture crew,
we're very, very aware of that.
We do every single
thing we possibly can
from the moment that
we come onto the group
with the helicopter to do
what we can to minimize that.
- They're getting a
sedative up on the mountain
that helps keep
'em a little calmer
when they're being slung in
and when they're on the table.
- Once we've got the
net off, hobbled,
blindfold as soon as possible.
Sometimes the net's all
sort of around their heads
so you can't actually get it on.
But blindfold for sheep,
that makes an absolutely
massive difference
to calming them down.
And we always try and do
things as quickly as we can
just to minimize
that exposure time,
because their temperatures
are a critical part
of their health.
We're constantly monitoring
their temperature.
We have little thermometer
that we carry on us right here.
In Nevada, it can
get really hot here,
so we also sometimes
carry with us water
and isopropyl alcohol mix,
which is really effective
at cooling the sheep down.
once you've got them hobbled,
then you can kind
of wrangle them
and put them into that bag
and then do up the little straps
and get it all ready
for, flight ready.
So it's just like a little
sheep in a bag ready to fly up.
(majestic music)
(blades whirring)
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(blades whirring)
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- She's a little
warm, she's 105.2.
So we're cooling her off here
with a bunch of cold towels.
Bighorn sheep lose a lot of
heat through their horns,
so we're keeping her horns
wrapped in cold towels.
We're spraying her down on
her feet and on her hooves.
That's still hot,
she's still hot.
Let's get her some fluids
'cause she was
running for a while.
(majestic music)
We're drawing blood to
test whether she's exposed
to Mycoplasma
ovipneumoniae or not,
the causative agent
of bighorn pneumonia.
We're also taking nasal
swabs here in a minute.
They'll get sent off to a lab
up in Washington
State University.
We'll get results back
here in about a week.
And any animals
that are positive
we'll then remove from the herd.
Kinda like a COVID test.
And that'll tell us whether
she's actively shedding or not,
and that's what's killing
all the lambs in these herds.
The other four we had
this morning all had bags,
so they're all lactating,
which probably means
that they are negative
'cause it's unlikely their
lambs would still be surviving
if they were positive.
We're trying to grow the herd.
If we can clear all
the chronic shedders,
then we'll have the opportunity
to have year after year
of lamb recruitment
and hopefully continue
to grow this herd.
This mountain range
is really high quality
and can support a lot more
sheep than are currently here.
- Hunters have played
the most important role
in bighorn sheep conservation.
They have always played
a significant role
in reintroductions, the
creation and maintenance
of national parks and
conservation management
through regulated
and ethical hunting.
- Yeah, so we're gonna
take a couple x-rays
to the head here and what we're
looking for is sinus tumors.
There is an association
with continually
or chronically shedding
Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae
when they have sinus tumors,
so we're trying to better
understand the dynamics
that we have playing out here
with the infection of this herd.
So this is gonna tell us
whether they have
sinus tumors or not.
- It's not every day you
get to put your hands
on a live bighorn sheep.
This is a pretty incredible
conservation moment
for me personally and
this is really awesome.
As the day starts to warm up,
we process the last few sheep
before releasing them
back into the wild.
(majestic music)
(blades whirring)
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(blades whirring)
- Ideally, the quicker
we can get animals back
on their feet and out of the
capture site, the better.
A lot of animals we try to
release right here, however,
if we get a ewe
that's lactating,
so we know she has
an attendant lamb,
we're gonna fly her up back
to the exact spot
where they caught her
so she can quickly get
back with that lamb
and they can get
back to nursing.
(majestic music)
- This was another amazing
conservation project funded
by the Cabela Family Foundation.
Bighorn sheep is an iconic
North American animal,
and to see our dollar
supporting this animal
in this space was
absolutely amazing.
The original population of
sheep that were reintroduced
into this area, the
California bighorn,
came from British Columbia.
And after seeing
conservation work
and doing this
project, I've decided
that I'm gonna travel
to British Columbia
and see what that looks
like, where they came from.
And I'm gonna hunt
a sheep of my own.
(gentle music)
Sheep commands some of
the highest trophy fees
of any animal, enabling
hundreds of thousands of dollars
to flow into sheep conservation.
Bighorn sheep hunting
opportunities are very limited.
The demand for
tags is far greater
than the number of bighorn
sheep available to hunt
as they are managed in a
very conservative manner.
There are less than 1,000
tags issued each year
in the United States.
Many western states hold
raffles for ram tags.
These tags can sometimes
sell for $400,000 or more.
This money flows directly back
into wild sheep conservation.
There are also state lotteries
that are less expensive,
but it can take up to 25 years
to actually acquire a tag.
After flying into Vancouver,
we took a long drive to
the Fraser River area.
As we approached this region,
it became quite obvious
that this was a very
wild space and we were
in an incredible forested
area that was rugged
and looked to be
quite challenging.
There are a few experiences
that can compare
to hunting wild sheep
in North America
and in their rugged terrain.
Although the hunt
can be mentally and
physically challenging
in a sometimes
dangerous habitat,
sheep hunting can be
quite intoxicating.
It is kind of a battle of will.
Just as at any sheep
hunt, the day will start
with a lot of glassing and
trying to locate sheep.
It's very dry and
unseasonably warm
and we have to get on perches
to try to locate sheep.
And you're specifically
looking for mature rams
that are at least
three-quarters length curl.
So you spend a good
bit of time looking
for specific type sheep.
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(majestic music)
(gentle music)
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(gun fires)
- Made a pretty
good track up here.
Still recovering
from it, actually.
And by the time we got up
here, the rams were up,
so I had to kind of get
into position quick,
try to slow the heart rate down.
Took about a 450-yard
shot, I suppose.
And we've hit the ram, he
looks like he's hit hard.
But we'll know when we find him.
(gentle music)
(gentle music)
Thank you.
- No problem.
- Thank you for working so hard.
There's something very
unique about sheep hunting.
It's a difficult process and
a lot of time is put into it,
a lot of energy, a lot
of physical energy.
It carries a deeper meaning
when you harvest a mature ram.
It's just something that
you feel as you walk up
and you see that
ram laying there.
All the effort,
all the teamwork,
the things that go
into it to harvest
such an incredible
North America icon,
it's almost impossible
to describe.
The successful pursuit
of an animal that lives
in such an extreme environment
is an incredible experience.
And knowing that the
funds paid to do so
positively impact
this entire system
adds a whole new
dimension to this.
(gentle music)
Sharing food is a primal thing,
and man has valued this
act since time began.
(gentle music)
Nothing beats the
fresh taste of sheep
while still on the mountain.
It is an honest
celebration of teamwork,
enjoyed through the
wild and pure meat
that was earned together.
(gentle music)
Sheep are under many
threats and run the risk,
like many species,
of going extinct,
yet it's hunting that feeds
by far the most dollars
into sheep conservation.
(gentle music)
This has been an
incredible journey
and an unbelievable
bighorn sheep experience.
We've gone from studying
these sheep and testing them
for disease, doing
great conservation work,
and also at the same
time we've experienced
the very wildness of sheep,
we participated in a hunt.
And that really brings the
whole thing full circle for me,
to see conservation in action,
but also where those
hunting dollars come from.
I've participated on both
sides of the aisle on this deal
and it's great to see how
all this comes together.
You might feel like
the hunting is separate
from the conservation,
but really it's not.
It's one in the same thing.
These projects are
funded through hunting
and hunting dollars and
also the organizations
that support hunting.
So I feel like to participate
in both of these activities,
I have really gained
a lot of insight into
what a wild sheep is and
what they're all about.
To have healthy sheep, you
need a large ecosystem.
If that system is protected
for the benefit of the sheep,
there are many, many other
species that benefit also.