Wildlife identification is a requirement for multiple wildlife studies. The majority of identification methods used is invasive. Invasive identification methods can cause excessive stress and injury to the animal. Photo identification has been used as a non-invasive wildlife identification method. We tested the reliability of photo identification on a population of rocky mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) at the Nelson District Rod and Gun Club’s feeding station located on the Kootenay Pass. These bighorn sheep are habituated to humans, which makes it easy to take photographs. Last season (2018/2019) students from Recreation Fish and Wildlife at Selkirk College studied the bighorn sheep at the same feeding station and determined that photo identification works well short term. We took photographs of the sheep in the
2019/2020 season, and matched them with the photographs taken in the 2018/2019 season to determine if photo identification is a reliable method for long term studies. With the photographs from both seasons we studied the population dynamics of the herd too. There were 18 different sheep identified in the 2018/2019 season and 14 in the 2019/2020 season. Six of the bighorn sheep photographs from 2019/2020 were confidently identified with photographs from
2018/2019 (33% of 2019/2020’s sheep). Because these sheep usually return to the feeding station season after season, these results indicate that photo identification is not a reliable method for long term studies. The population dynamics were quite similar between seasons. These sheep do not behave like a wild unhabituated herd, but there were some similarities, like their migration pattern. Photo identification works well short term with habituated bighorn sheep, but it will be a challenge to make it work for a long term study and/or in the wild.
