Mountain goats threaten bighorn sheep

Bighorn sheep once just about posed for Barb Day when she crept across their high-country habitat with her camera. Now, in the latest twist of an ecological saga, non-native mountain goats are displacing the sheep along the road from Echo Lake Lodge to Mount Evans' 14,264-foot summit. The long-term survival of bighorn sheep — Colorado's curly-horned state animal — is far from assured, with the sheep facing heavy threats here and across the West. Federal biologists contend that competition from mountain goats — introduced in 1948 by Colorado wildlife managers — could push bighorns over the brink...more