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HURRICANE — Twenty sheep were placed in a new home Tuesday, and flown part of the way by a helicopter.
The Foundation for North American Wild Sheep transplanted 20 bighorn sheep from an area south of Zion National Park to east of Kanab Thursday, using a helicopter to move the sheep.
The sheep were taken from the southernmost location to a staging area near Hurricane via helicopter, where biologists conducted health tests on the sheep before moving them by trailer to their final destination.
According to the National Park Service, Utah's current bighorn population is estimated to be 3,000 animals. Before the 1980s, when biologists began relocating bighorns from Canyonlands National Park, Utah's bighorn sheep population was about 1,000.
