Endangered sheep dies after getting entangled in razor wire at the border, biologist says

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A Peninsular bighorn sheep appears to have died after getting tangled in razor wire installed earlier this year on the California-Mexico border, realizing the fears of wildlife advocates that the security barrier would harm the endangered animals.On Wednesday morning, Christina Aiello, a wildlife biologist with the Wildlands Network, a conservation group, came across the body of an adult male bighorn embedded in the wire while she was hiking in Imperial County’s rugged Jacumba Wilderness.Photos and a video Aiello provided show bladed wire snaking around the decomposing animal’s neck and curved horns, as well as the front legs, in a desert landscape dotted with boulders.“It’s frustrating and sad but at the same time expected,” Aiello said shortly after her discovery.“Because we literally said that this was the risk, this was likely to happen, and our concerns were kind of ignored.”Starting last fall, federal forces began stringing hundreds of miles of concertina wire along the border.

President Trump has vowed to complete the border wall during his second term, and some conservationists have speculated the wire is being used as a placeholder before remaining gaps in the wall get filled in.It was “part of a necessary, strategic effort to bolster this security by discouraging and preventing illicit movement across this border,” a spokesperson for the Joint Task Force-Southern Border, which provides military support to border operations, told The Times earlier this year.The wire’s large coils and bulkiness makes it easier for people and animals to see, which “acts as a better deterrent for people and helps prevent animals from accidentally running into the wire or misjudging a jump,” the spokesperson said in a statement.They added that the coils are rigid and don’t sag over time like single-strand wires, “which helps reduce the risk of accidental wildlife ...