Response to F-2:

Strengthen the project record by additional review of currently available scientific information on 

disease transmission from domestic sheep and goats to wild sheep.

We reviewed 9 additional papers on disease transmission from domestic sheep and goats to wild sheep.

• Recent findings indicate that in addition to domestic sheep domestic goats also can carry other 

disease organisms with serious consequences for bighorn sheep.

• Bighorn sheep (BHS) are more susceptible to developing fatal pneumonia than the related 

species Ovis aries (domestic sheep [DS]). 

• Outbreaks of bronchopneumonia in previously healthy populations of BHS often result in high 

death rates among all age groups initially, followed by years of impaired recruitment due to 

pneumonia in lambs. 

• Mannheimia haemolytica consistently causes fatal bronchopneumonia in BHS under natural and 

experimental conditions. 

• Odds of a pneumonia epizootic were >3.3 times greater if domestic sheep or goats are used for 

weed control in a BHS herd’s area of high risk (the area of each herd distribution plus a 14.5-km

buffer from that boundary). 

• Contact with feral goats appears to result in BHS exposure to pathogens. 

• The central role of domestic sheep and goats in BHS exposure to pathogens is well documented; 

pathogen transmission from domestic to bighorn sheep is the only supported hypothesis in 

experimental trials. 

• Risk of pneumonia epizootics is positively associated with greater amounts of private land, weed 

control with domestic sheep and goats, history of a pneumonia epizootic in a herd or a nearby 

herd, and higher density of BHS herds. 

• Although the majority of bighorns in one study (Drew et al. 2014) were males, documented BHS 

contact with domestic sheep or goats did not correlate with either the bighorn breeding season 

or estrus in the domestic species.

• Management implications include the need for species separation and rapid responses to 

contact situations because 28% of the BHS died with evidence of respiratory disease following 

domestic ruminant contact (Drew et al. 2014).

After review of these additional papers, the decisions made in the Forest Plan to restrict domestic 

sheep and goats, including pack goats, on the SNF remain unchanged. This additional literature review

was included in the “2015 Amendment to the 2013 Biological Evaluation for the Revised Shoshone 

National Forest Land and Natural Resource Management Plan”, which is part of the project record. 

We reviewed the following additional papers to reach this determination.

Fox, K. A., Rouse, N. M., Huyvaert, K. P., Griffin, K. A., Killion, H. J., Jennings-Gaines, J., . . . Miller, M. W. 

(2015). Bighorn sheep (ovis canadensis) sinus tumors are associated with coinfections by potentially 

pathogenic bacteria in the upper respiratory tract. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 51(1), 19-27. 

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7589/2014-05-130 

Sells, S. N., Mitchell, M. S., Nowak, J. J., Lukacs, P. M., Anderson, N. J., Ramsey, J. M., Gude, J. A. and 

Krausman, P. R. (2015), Modeling risk of pneumonia epizootics in bighorn sheep. The Journal of Wildlife 

Management, 79: 195–210. doi: 10.1002/jwmg.824 

Besser, T. E., Cassirer, E. F., Potter, K. A., Lahmers, K., Oaks, J. L., Shanthalingam, S., ... & Foreyt, W. J. 

(2014). Epizootic Pneumonia of Bighorn Sheep following Experimental Exposure to Mycoplasma 

ovipneumoniae. PloS one, 9(10), e110039. 

Drew, M. L., Rudolph, K. M., Ward, A., & Weiser, G. C. (2014). Health status and microbial 

(Pasteurellaceae) flora of free-ranging bighorn sheep following contact with domestic 

ruminants. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 38(2), 332-340.

O'brien, J. M., O'brien, C. S., MCcarthy, C., & Carpenter, T. E. (2014). Incorporating foray behavior into 

models estimating contact risk between bighorn sheep and areas occupied by domestic sheep. Wildlife 

Society Bulletin,38(2), 321-331. 

Shannon, J. M., Whiting, J. C., Larsen, R. T., Olson, D. D., Flinders, J. T., Smith, T. S., & Bowyer, R. T. 

(2014). Population response of reintroduced bighorn sheep after observed commingling with domestic 

sheep. European Journal of Wildlife Research, 60(5), 737-748.

Herndon, Caroline N., Sudarvili Shanthalingam, Donald P. Knowles, Douglas R. Call, and Subramaniam 

Srikumaran. 2011. Comparison of passively transferred antibodies in bighorn and domestic lambs 

reveals one factor in differential susceptibility of these species to Mannheimia haemolytica-induced 

pneumonia. Clinical and Vaccine Immunology 18, no. 7 (July): 1133-1138.

Miller, D. S., Weiser, G. C., Aune, K., Roeder, B., Atkinson, M., Anderson, N., ... & Clarke, P. R. (2011). 

Shared bacterial and viral respiratory agents in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), domestic sheep (Ovis 

aries), and goats (Capra hircus) in Montana. Veterinary medicine international, 2011.

Wehausen, J. D., Kelley, S. T., & Ramey, R. R. (2011). Domestic sheep, bighorn sheep, and respiratory 

disease: a review of the experimental evidence. California Fish and Game, 97(1), 7-24.