Desert Bighorn Sheep are returning to the Sun city

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)-- Today Texas Parks and Wild life hosted a seminar for the community discussing the reintroduction of Desert Bighorn Sheep. Topics discussed during the seminar included the history of desert bighorns, challenges they face and important role the Franklin Mountains plays in this project.

The bighorns will be relocated from the Elephant Mountain wildlife management, also a property of Texas Parks and Wildlife, located about 26 miles south of Alpine Texas.

Froylan Hernandez, Desert Bighorn Sheep program leader for Texas Parks and Wildlife says it's our responsibility to reintroduce Bighorns back into mountain ranges. Hernandez says they haven't been in there area since the 1960s and it important we bring them back for future enjoyment.

The bighorn population has decrease significantly in recent years. Hernandez says diseases, infections and pneumonia are to blame. Another challenge bighorns face are habitat fragmentation, meaning the habitat is being broken up so it's no longer one contiguous, piece of property that the animals can thrive in.

Hernandez says all animals that are translocated and subsequently released on the Franklin Mountain State Park will have tracking collars on them, which will allow TPWL to keep, track of those animals and monitor them real time.

The reintroduction process will being in October.