Monday, May 19, 2025 471

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As the sun rose over the rugged slopes of Elephant Mountain in West Texas, the sound of helicopter blades cut through the still desert air. Below, a team of wildlife biologists, technicians and conservation partners rushed to move 78 desert bighorn sheep into trailers. Each animal had just been airlifted off the mountain. 

 

The mission: relocate the native bighorn to a safe, disease-free range. 

 

Angela Patrick, who grew up in Durango and graduated from Fort Lewis College in 2018 with a degree in biology, was among the team on the ground. The initiative is part of a major statewide effort to protect a species that has come dangerously close to disappearing. 

 

“This was our last chance to protect these sheep,” Patrick said. “If they stayed where they were, it wasn’t a question of if they’d get sick – it was when.” 

 

Fewer than 700 bighorn sheep remain in Texas. Many live in areas where they risk exposure to a dangerous pneumonia complex referred to as Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae or M.ovi. The disease spreads easily and often leads to mass die-offs, followed by years of poor reproduction rates. One of the culprits for its spread is the aoudad or Barbary sheep – an invasive species that competes with bighorn for food and water and often carries the illness without showing symptoms. 

To reduce that risk, the bighorn were moved from Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area to Franklin Mountains State Park near El Paso. Surrounded by mountains and urban development, the Franklin Mountains are largely free of aoudad. Wildlife officials believe this isolated environment could give the new herd a stronger chance to thrive. 

 

Patrick, now pursuing her doctorate at Texas Tech University, helped test the animals for signs of disease before they were moved. The weeklong project involved dozens of partners, including Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Texas Bighorn Society and the Borderlands Research Institute. A documentary crew filmed the entire operation. 

 

“Projects like this represent the kind of hands-on conservation work that so many of us in wildlife biology aspire to be part of — it was truly a bucket-list experience for me. My job was to collect the nasal and tonsil swabs vital for testing for pneumonia,” she added. “It’s hands-on work, but it’s critical for tracking the health of the population.” 

Patrick’s path to that desert mountainside began at Fort Lewis College. As a student, she initially planned to become a veterinarian. But after weighing the cost of veterinary school and spending time in clinical settings, she realized she wanted something different – something wilder. 

 

That direction came into focus after she took a wildlife disease class with FLC Biology Professor Erin Lehmer. 

 

“That course opened my eyes to a part of biology that I hadn’t considered,” she said. “It blended health science with fieldwork. I saw that I could work with animals, be outdoors and do research that matters.” 

 

Patrick also conducted research with biology professor Joseph Ortega, setting up game cameras in the Missionary Ridge burn scar north of Durango. 

 

“He was incredibly detail-oriented, and that rubbed off on me,” Patrick said. “It helped me build the habits I needed for graduate work.” 

 

Molecular biology courses with Steve Fenster, now dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, were another key part of her preparation that included processing biological samples, conducting PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing– which translated directly into her graduate studies and fieldwork. 

 

“Those lab skills set me apart,” Patrick said. “Not every program gives you that kind of foundation.” 

 

Now several years into her graduate work, Patrick is developing a model to help scientists and wildlife managers predict how the pneumonia complex moves between bighorn sheep and aoudad. Her work is one piece of a broader interdisciplinary effort. While her focus is disease, other researchers are studying animal movement, habitat use and species interaction. Patrick said she’s grateful to be part of a team where different types of expertise come together. 

“Everyone brings something to the table,” she said. “And the more we collaborate, the better chance we have at saving these animals.” 

 

Patrick hopes to finish her doctorate in the next couple of years and then pursue a faculty position – ideally somewhere in the western U.S.  

“I love the research side, being out in the field, then turning that data into tools that make a difference,” she said. 

For now, Patrick, 28, is focused on what’s next – analyzing lab results, coding her model and continuing to support conservation projects across Texas. But she said she’ll never forget the moment those sheep stepped onto a trailer and began their journey to a new home. 

“Seeing them released in the Franklin Mountains – that’s something not many people get to experience,” she said. “High school me would be so in awe of what I do now. And I hope other students see you can do really cool things in this field, and there's so many opportunities.”