Joshua Tree National Park rangers are concerned about the possibility that bighorn sheep in the park may have contracted a deadly disease. A couple months ago, a wildlife biologist observed two sheep–one an adult, and one a lamb–coughing. When a bighorn sheep coughs, it violently throws its head all the way back, and then all the way forward. Park spokesman George Land said the coughing could be a symptom of several things, one of which is pneumonia. Bighorn sheep have no immunity to pneumonia; there is no vaccine or cure, and Land said pneumonia has a 50 percent mortality rate in bighorn sheep. Pneumonia is introduced to bighorn herds through domestic sheep and goats. Land said visitors should notify park rangers if they see bighorn sheep that appear to be ill or weak.
