Arizona Game and Fish Department

A helicopter helps drive the pronghorn into a holding pen during the capture.

An American Pronghorn herd has been thinned and relocated to make room for new developments. 

The Arizona Game and Fish Department estimates the Glassford hill herd had 70 to 100 pronghorns. They relocated 45 to southern Arizona because the habitat is being lost to new developments in the area. Erin Butler, terrestrial wildlife program manager for the agency, says that a new and safe habitat is not the only benefit to relocation.

“The biggest other benefit is the increased genetic diversity that you introduce into that population, and the more different genetics that exist in a population the healthier your population is.”

Butler says the 45 pronghorn were tagged and about half of them were given a GPS collar so that the department can track how they are adjusting to their new habitat.

Arizona Game and Fish Department

Pronghorn are released at several sites in southern Arizona.