The Hemenway sheep should just be left alone

Bill Erin

Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008 | midnight

Some folks in Boulder City are upset about the mountain sheep that invade Hemenway Valley and graze in Hemenway Park. Some are upset because the sheep are there and cause trouble for human inhabitants. Others are upset because the homeowners are upset and want the sheep taken away. Still others are upset because the rangers are planning to thin the herd by moving many of them to other locations.

Why not just let the rangers do their job? We have to assume they know more about these animals and what's good for them than we do. And those who live down there with the sheep should be thankful the sheep put up with them rather than the opposite. After all, the sheep were there first.

At one time, I had a long and pleasant relationship with those sheep. They were polite to me and I was polite to them. I trespassed on their land going to and from the Hemenway tennis courts and often had to walk through the herd to get to the courts.

They always respectfully parted and let me through without a problem, although they watched me closely and were probably curious and scornful about what I was doing.

For many years, Billy Wolfenbarger and I played tennis there several mornings a week. Many times Paul Fisher and Paul Ryan played on the other court and had the same respectful association with the sheep. Although the sheep are not housebroken, they are gracious and lovely animals who will leave you alone if you leave them alone.

They would graze peaceably around the courts as we played, only now and then stopping to gaze at our silly game that didn't produce anything in the way of food.

In the summer, when the sun was up early and so were we, we would get there ahead of the sheep. Billy and I would stop to watch them come down the hills.

The ram would come down first, ahead of the herd. He would stop and look around while the herd waited a few hundred feet above him. When he was satisfied, he would move down to another spot and the herd would move down to where he had been.

The head ram was apparently selected in the spring. We would suddenly hear "thwack" outside the court and stop to look. Two rams would be butting heads. They really hammered each other. Finally they would stop and walk away. I guess, somehow, they knew who won.

Once a tourist pulled up in his RV above the courts and, in spite of the "no dogs allowed" signs, let his German shepherd out. The dog took one look at the herd and, barking full throat, charged them at top speed.

The ram cut across in front of the dog and led him away from the herd while it scattered down into the taller growth toward the lake. The ram headed for the hills and bounded up the inclines from rock to rock without a problem. The dog, still barking ferociously, scrambled and slithered and fell trying to follow.

Down below, the dumb RV owner was yelling his head off for the dog to come back. The ram disappeared up the mountain and the dog finally gave up, returning bedraggled and exhausted to the RV.

I don't know why people are upset about the sheep. They're beautiful, untamed animals that, admittedly, ruin homeowners' plants and trees at times, but otherwise just want to live their lives in peace.

They are also an added tourist attraction for Boulder City. Tour buses detour up to the park and let the folks out to watch the herd and take pictures. The herd watches them with the same curiosity.

Everybody is happy.

Bill Erin is a Boulder City News columnist.