WildEarth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project have filed a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Washington to stop sheep grazing on seven allotments in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.
The injunction states the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) failed to plan or separate domestic sheep from bighorn sheep in the national forest, home to nearly half of the state’s bighorn population.
“Nearly half of bighorn sheep in Washington are at significant risk due to USFS’ actions,” said Greg Dyson of WildEarth Guardians in a statement. “It’s worth halting this ongoing risk while a court considers what steps USFS must take to avoid catastrophic losses to the wild sheep that Washingtonians have worked so hard to recover.”
The groups state the six bighorn herds are at risk of contracting Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, a pathogen that causes pneumonia and low lambing.
