No love for grizzlies: Rocky Mountain Front folks recount trials of living with bears [View all]
DUPUYER It took an electric fence to show John Hayne how
sheep give birth to twin lambs.
I didn't realize how many lambs we lost until we got the fence
up this year, the Dupuyer rancher said. We had 100 more than
last year. Often sheep have twins but you didnt know. You see the
ewe with one and you think everything's fine.
Grizzly bears had been prowling the lambing yard where John and
Leanne Hayne raised 700 sheep, picking off newborns before they
got counted. Occasionally, theyd grab an adult. John recalled coming
out to check the flock one night and seeing a lamb running around
erratically. Shining his spotlight, he saw the grizzly with the ewe in its mouth.
The sheep was still struggling, until the bear got caught in the light. Then it
shook the sheep to death in its jaws and ran away. The whole incident lasted
about 10 seconds.
They're such a powerful, fast animal, John said.
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