Why are blindfolded sheep flying through the air? Officials are making Texas wild again

A herd of 80 desert bighorn sheep was recently flown through the air while blindfolded and suspended from a helicopter, video shows. It’s all in an effort to make Texas wild again.

The bighorn sheep could be seen dangling in groups of three, each cozily wrapped in a tarp, as a helicopter delivered them to Franklin Mountains State Park on Dec. 4, videos shared by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department show. After their flight, the sheep were picked up and loaded onto a trailer.

A crowd of dozens gathered at the rugged West Texas park as TPWD opened the trailer and one of the herd — a male with an impressive set of curled horns — sprinted out to freedom, followed closely by his fellow sheep, video shows.

The sheep’s dash into the desert marks the first time in nearly 60 years that the desert bighorns have roamed the Franklin Mountains, though the stretch of land — and the surrounding region — once teemed with them, according to wildlife officials. But unregulated hunting and competition for resources with domestic animals led to the bighorn’s downfall, and by the 1960s the native beast was nowhere to be found.

The sheep were captured at Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area, which is a roughly 260-mile drive southeast from Franklin Mountains.

“The desert bighorn sheep were captured at Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area by a helicopter crew that used net gunning to immobilize the sheep, bound and blindfolded,” Lerrin Johnson of TPWD told McClatchy News in an email, adding that all the sheep were given “health assessments” before release.

Officials hope reintroducing the sheep will result in “another healthy, viable population.”

“It’s collectively our responsibility to make sure the bighorns that we have now are here to stay and for the enjoyment of future generations,” a TPWD official said.

The Franklin Mountains project could be just the start.

“We hope to have a large enough population in the Franklin Mountains within 5-7 years that we can then use to continue restoration efforts in other mountain ranges in the Trans Pecos region,” Johnson said.

“TPWD’s goal is to create another healthy and productive free-ranging broodstock source, much like Elephant Mountain, to ensure we have healthy desert bighorns to continue future restoration efforts in Texas,” he said.

Franklin Mountains State Park boasts 27,000 acres of nature, including 100 miles of hiking trails, as well as rock climbing, according to the park’s website. It is a roughly 600-mile drive west from Austin.

This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Why are blindfolded sheep flying through the air? Officials are making Texas wild again."