AZ Game and Fish releases 20 bighorns, will no longer kill mountain lions

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - Twenty bighorn sheep were released Tuesday, Nov. 22, in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.

It's all part of a three-year project to grow the population, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

The department has also announced it will no longer kill any mountain lions that kill sheep.

Eight mountain lions have been killed since the project began.

Wildlife agents say they are confident there is now a sustainable population of the bighorn sheep.

Before the release, there were 65 bighorn sheep in the Catalinas, 33 of which have collared monitors.

As of Tuesday afternoon there is an active search for one of the bighorn sheep that was released in the morning. Tucson News Now spoke with Mark Hart from Arizona Game and Fish and he says the sheep that wandered away was tranquilized and now they're trying to find it in the area of Ina and Oracle.

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