Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Alysha Edwards
June 30, 2020 - 12:03 PM
It was an unusual day for a West Kelowna woman, who spotted a few bighorn sheep running down Highway 97 in the middle of Westbank's shopping district.
Alysha Edwards was surprised to see a group of bighorn sheep delaying traffic this morning at around 11 a.m., she said.
RCMP vehicles were on scene, with flashing lights, she said. The sheep caused a little traffic delay, but the highway has since returned to normal.
This is the first time Edwards has seen them in the city.
The sheep were spotted along the highway heading in the direction of West Kelowna Gymnastix, but she doesn’t know where they went from there.
RCMP say a marked police vehicle stayed behind the group and slowed traffic down until they could be convinced to safely exit the roadway and head back into the hills.
California Bighorn Sheep were once widely found throughout the dry grasslands and rugged terrain of the Southern Interior, according to the Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Society.
Now, only small herds of wild sheep now occur within this historical range. In addition to overall habitat loss, many of their traditional migration corridors are now blocked by fencelines and roadways.
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