New Home
on the Range
The big ram captured during the first day of the effort rockets out of the crate onto White Sands and the San Andres Refuge.
Story and Photos by Jim Eckles
Public Affairs Specialist

Submitted by Mara Weisenberger (December 2005)
A team of federal and state agencies, including White Sands Missile Range, successfully captured and released 30 desert bighorn sheep onto the San Andres National Wildlife Refuge on Nov. 17 and 18. The release is part of an ongoing effort to bring back a viable desert bighorn sheep population to the San Andres Mountains on White Sands and the wildlife refuge in particular

According to Kevin Cobble, manager of SANWR, the release last week raised the number of bighorn sheep in the refuge to over 100 animals. Twenty sheep – 16 ewes and four rams – were captured and transported the first day. Ten ewes were transported and released the second day.
Each bighorn gets a quick dental check. On younger animals it is possible to estimate age from the teeth.
The blindfold helped keep them calm during the handling process.
To ensure their safety, no tranquilizing drugs were used in this capture.
Officials from WSMR, SANWR and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish joined their counterparts from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and Kofa National Wildlife Refuge to capture and move the sheep to New Mexico. It is estimated that Kofa has well over 600 desert bighorn sheep, making it the largest population in southwestern Arizona.

This release was similar to one done in 2002 when a total of 51 desert bighorn sheep were sent to White Sands. The 31 ewes and 20 rams came from Kofa which is near Yuma Proving Ground and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish bighorn sheep breeding facility at Red Rock. According to wildlife experts, the San Andres contains the best sheep habitat in New Mexico.
The radio collar on this sheep is trimmed to eliminate the excess as workers prepare to move the animal to the crate for transport to New Mexico.
Patrick Morrow, WSMR wildlife biologist and bighorn sheep coordinator, said the goal is to eventually expand the population beyond the refuge they freely roam the entire mountain range.

While many people might not associate the U.S. Army with bighorn sheep management, Mara Weisenberger, biologist for the San Andres NWR, said White Sands is an equal partner in the effort to re-establish the herd. Morrow and other WSMR personnel have been working shoulder to shoulder with the better-known wildlife agencies to the successes achieved so far.
First Ewe
Photo: Old Goat & First Ewe
Florence “Buddy” Welles
August 21, 1907 - January 23, 2004
Most of us knew her as “Buddy”, the first Ewe of the Desert Bighorn Council. In the drawing I made for the title page of the Desert Bighorn book, Buddy is the only ewe, centered, as she was the only female bighorn researcher in the early years. The rams arranged along the skyline represented the male contributors to the book. The drawing was never used in the final printing and I had it framed as a gift to Gale Monson, who along with Lowell Sumner, edited the final draft of the book.

Buddy and I were wives and partners of sheep biologist and first became friends in 1960. Chuck and I with our two children were stationed at Corn Creek Field Station, part of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. Ralph and Buddy were deep into their research of the Desert Bighorn of Death Valley. Ralph's 17 year career with the National Park Service encompassed their studying and photographing the elusive Desert Bighorn. In 1961 the National Park Service published 'The Bighorn of Death Valley', the first life-history study of these sheep.

Buddy and Ralph were original members of the Desert Bighorn Council, actively involved in all its activities. Ralph was awarded the first Desert Bighorn Council Award. I currently have this award and will return it to the council at the 2005 meeting in Texas.

When Chuck was killed in 1973 while on an aerial survey to locate a site to transplant bighorn to ranges in Utah, a memorial fund was set up to aid young biologist who shared an interest in the survival and study of the sheep. Later, when Ralph passed away we renamed the fund the Hansen-Welles Memorial Fund.

About ten ears ago Buddy sold one of their valuable original oil paintings and used the money to produce a video of the Bighorn of Death Valley. It might be fun to play it at the next Council meeting in their honor.

I spend long weekends with Buddy just before she passed away and her memory of their field days studying the Death Valley Sheep was remarkable. In Ralph's early days as a teenage cowboy he learned to name the various cattle in the herds and gave them distinctive names. This he did with the sheep and they individually identified many of them with special names.

Buddy's stories of their adventures were vivid. One in particular was special. At one of the springs in the mountains of Death Valley she got into the water and sat with only her head (with hat) above the surface. After several hours her patience was rewarded when sheep came in to drink right in front of her.

Buddy was a special helpmate in their 61 years of marriage. She was with Ralph during all his research, carrying cameras, taking notes, and finally typing the drafts of 'The Bighorn of Death Valley' on a tiny portable typewriter in their small camping trailer. This doesn't count the usual camp chores.

In her 96 years she successfully mastered four separate goals. First, receptionist for the Actors Equity Association, a precursor of today's Screen Actors Guild. Second, 18 years at the Palo Alto Community Theatre, where she acted, danced, designed and directed choreography for the shows and played the accompaniment of their many musical productions. Third, her 17 years with the National Park Service, and fourth, 31 years as a volunteer in a Hospital Auxiliary.

Throughout all her years she continued her musical career. I shall never forget awakening to special music when visiting, for she played her special 105 year old Steinway regularly till the end of her life. Most of what she worked at during her lifetime was done on a volunteer basis. A wonderful woman! I am proud to call her one of my best friends.

Pat Hansen May 2004