In the domestic sheep world, there’s a phenomenon woolgrowers fear known as a “crush.” It occurs when a frightened flock tries to take refuge in the comfort of each other and it doesn’t go well.

Don’t underestimate the hazard of a sheep crush. 

In 2013, a crush claimed 119 lambs and 57 ewes in the mountains south of Victor, Idaho, after wolves caused a flock of 2,400 to stampede. The wolves didn’t directly kill the sheep — they just spooked sheep that in turn asphyxiated each other in a sheep-on-sheep heap. Nevertheless, the wolves paid for the sheep crush: Federal trappers killed 13 wolves from the former Pine Creek Pack as a result. 

A flock of sheep grazing Wednesday in the Bridger Mountains stood in a heap, but certainly not a crush, as a caravan of journalists, land managers, rangeland experts and ranchers passed by while touring the cheatgrass-filled fire scar leftover from 2025’s explosive Red Canyon wildfire.

More curious than frightened, the freshly shorn ewes barely broke from browsing to look up at the humans passing by.

Mike Koshmrl reports on Wyoming's wildlife and natural resources. Prior to joining WyoFile, he spent nearly a decade covering the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s wild places and creatures for the Jackson...

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