FWP AT WORK Jennifer Ramsey

THOMAS LEE

JENNIFER RAMSEY

THIS IS THE HEAD of a bighorn sheep ram we got last winter from Cinnabar Basin north of Gardiner. Karen Loveless, the FWP biologist there, had seen several sheep in the area that were coughing, and we wanted to test to see if they had pneumonia.

I’ll saw this head open so I can examine the sinus cavities and inner ears for signs of infection. Then I’ll send a tissue sample to a lab in Washington State so they can figure out what particular bacteria might be involved. They usually let us know within a few weeks.

I have a pretty high tolerance for disgusting things. We do a lot of necropsies of grizzlies and wolves, and some of them have been dead for a long time. I’m fine with it and find it really fascinating, but sometimes we’ll get complaints from [the FWP office] next door that we’re stinking up their building. So for me, working on a sheep head is really not bad at all.