Video of bighorn sheep rescue at Lake Mead viewed over 20M times

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Earlier this summer, a couple boating on Lake Mead jumped into action to help a bighorn sheep that was stuck in mud. The video has since gone viral on social media.

On July 16, Kelly Goshorn and her husband went boating on Lake Mead and spotted a desert bighorn sheep struggling to get out of mud. Kelly recorded her husband tie rope around the ram’s horn, and continuously help pull the tired animal out.

Patrick Cummings, a former game biologist from the Nevada Department of Wildlife, believes it was a five-year-old ram.

“The technique that this young man employed was good, it was a good technique. I don’t think I could’ve done it any better I would’ve done it the same way basically,” Cummings said.

Cummings said desert bighorn sheep occupy mountain ranges in Clark County. The biggest herd in the muddy and black mountains near Leak Mead.

“I think it’s important to do a story like this. We have what over two million people in the Las Vegas valley and most of those people don’t get out that much,” Cummings said.

Two organizations he credits in conservation efforts is Wildlife Sheep Foundation out of Bozeman, Montana and a local chapter called Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn.

As for the video of the ram stuck in mud, it was a triumphant and compassionate moment now seen over 22 million times on Facebook.

“Because the outcome was good, it was positive. You can see the animal wasn’t limping, you can see it wasn’t in distress, so it somewhat uplifting right somebody knew what to do but he tried something and he did it the right way. And the ending of the story is a good one that ram went up and over the hill the way it should’ve.,” Cummings said.

Copyright 2022 KVVU. All rights reserved.