FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Wildlife officials say bighorn sheep have been relocated to their ancestral range in the Sierra Nevada, putting the endangered animal on a path to recovery.
Tom Stephenson of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Monday that herds of bighorn have been moved to parts of Yosemite and Sequoia national parks.
Thousands of the sheep once roamed the High Sierra, but overhunting and disease nearly caused their extinction.
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Stephenson says the 600 bighorn sheep that still exist occupy areas critical to their survival.
Yosemite wildlife biologist Sarah Stock says only the most intrepid park visitors to will see the sheep because the animals were released at high elevations.