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December 7, 2009

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Nevada swaps bighorn sheep for turkeys

Thursday, Jan. 29, 1998 | 10:47 a.m.

Nevada is swapping 20 of its desert bighorn sheep in return for an unknown number of wild Texas turkeys.

Nevada wildlife officials rounded up the 20 wild sheep last week in the Gabbs Valley mountains, about 30 miles east of Hawthorne.

Wildlife officials defend the program, saying Nevada soon would have too many bighorns for available food and water if their numbers were left unchecked.

Once hunted down to small herds, Nevada's state animal now has a healthy population of about 5,000, said Walt Mandeville, a state biologist. Texas has about 500.

Since 1944, Nevada wildlife officials have sent 280 desert bighorns to other states to keep the herd healthy.

Last year, the state received about 8,000 applications to hunt three varieties of wild sheep in Nevada. The wildlife division issued 98 desert bighorn permits for state residents and 11 for nonresidents.

In Texas, two or three permits are issued annually.

Over the years, Texas has given Nevada about 600 turkeys -- which are not native to the state -- allowing a turkey-hunting season here, said wildlife division spokesman Chris Healy.

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