Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington State's fish and wildlife officials plan to kill about 85 bighorn sheep from two pneumonia-infected herds.

The animals range between Yakima and Ellensburg. As Anna King reports, wildlife managers are hoping that culling the sick animals now, will save the rest of the Northwest herds.

Pneumonia in bighorn sheep is nearly always fatal.

Those that survive often pass the disease on to their vulnerable lambs. Sometimes sickened herds can go more than a decade without having any surviving offspring.

In Washington, wildlife officials are scrambling to cull pneumonia-sickened bighorns before lambing season starts in late March.

Nearly 20 bighorns have already died from the disease this winter in the river canyon area between Yakima and Ellensburg.

Donny Martorello is with state fish and wildlife in Olympia. He says his agency has been working to bring the species back from extinction in the state. 

Donny Martorello: "When you're faced with a situation like this where you really have to euthanize some animals really to try and protect and increase the long term viability of the remaining sheep, that's a tough call to make and in this case we think it's the right one."

The sheep will be shot by state and federal wildlife officials over the next six weeks.