Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis) Fact Sheet: Managed Care

• Require large enclosures with native vegetation, water source and a variety of habitat types and topographic relief.
• Enclosure fencing at least 10 feet high and at least 2 feet underground for predator control
• Males and females should be separated in nonbreeding season.
• Two managed care populations of Peninsular bighorns: 1. The Bighorn Institute, formed in 1982 to investigate bighorn population decline. They established a managed care breeding program in 1985. (more than 75 animals released to wild). 2. The Living Desert Museum is maintains a small group of bighorns for educational purposes.
• The San Diego Safari Park houses desert bighorn sheep at the Condor Ridge exhibit.
• Also see what San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is doing to protect bighorn sheep

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Gildart (1999)
USFWS (2000)