EP40 Wild Sheep & Predators

Join Sheep Fever co-host Gray N. Thornton for a fascinating and educational conversation on wild sheep predation with four career wildlife biologists with a combined ~180 years of agency and NGO experience. Kevin Hurley, WSF Vice President of Conservation, Kurt Alt, WSF Conservation Director – International Programs, Tom Lohuis, Dall’s Sheep Research Biologist, for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, and Eric Rominger, (Retired) Bighorn Sheep Biologist, with New Mexico Department of Game & Fish have managed and studied a wide spectrum of ungulate species across multiple western states and Central Asia. These four biologists have focused on wild sheep for many decades, and share their perspectives on predator-prey dynamics, biological and social factors influencing wild sheep management, stakeholder expectations, and the multiple, complex, and often controversial factors involved in managing wild sheep in ecosystems with a full suite of mid- to large-sized carnivores, plus efficient aerial predators of wild sheep, particularly lambs.

From “top down” predation-driven systems to “bottom-up” vegetative communities, these seasoned wild sheep biologists offer at times diverse but fully interesting thoughts on the challenges of wild sheep/predator interactions.