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SPARKS, Nev. (AP) — A new neighbor is again attracting attention in the Reno suburb of Sparks: a bighorn sheep.
A wayward ram sporting an impressive curl of horns was seen wandering paved streets in the Spanish Springs area on Friday.
"We're thinking it's probably the same one" seen roaming through the same area last September, Nevada Department of Wildlife spokesman Chris Healy told the Reno Gazette-Journal (http://on.rgj.com/1DLcz7T ).
State wildlife officials relocated more than 50 desert bighorns captured in southern Nevada to the Clark Mountain area of the Virginia Range about 10 miles east of Reno in 2011 and 2012.
The herd has since grown to 80 or 90 bighorns, and wildlife officials think the ram likely wandered from there to the Spanish Springs area.
The ram seen in September had ear tags but it's not clear if the one spotted Friday has tags, Healy said.
Bighorns once thrived across Nevada but vanished everywhere except southern Nevada after the arrival of white settlers.
Wildlife officials have described efforts to re-establish sheep herds in northern Nevada in recent decades as highly successful.
In addition to desert bighorns, Nevada also is home to California and Rocky Mountain bighorns.
The reintroduction of bighorns to the Virginia Range in recent years marked the first time in more than 100 years that Nevada's official state animal was back there.
Bighorns are native to the Virginia Range, but they died out at some point after the Comstock mining boom around Virginia City in the 19th century, wildlife officials said.
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Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com
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