CASPER—Chronic clashes between an apex raptor and domestic lambs grazing Wyoming rangelands reached cabinet-level officials at two branches of the United States government early this year.
U.S. Department of Agriculture research biologist Lindsey Perry briefed Wyoming officials about the status of her golden eagle work on Wednesday morning at a meeting of the state’s Animal Damage Management Board.
“Word came down from the Secretary of Ag and Secretary of the Interior that they wanted immediate action this lambing season to alleviate some of the depredation that was happening,” said Perry, who works at the National Wildlife Research Center. “They asked us to try to do something.”
By the time U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ directive trickled down to Perry in February, the marching orders were to capture golden eagles in areas used by lambing domestic sheep and move them elsewhere. The intent was to “disrupt their focus on the lambs and alleviate that pressure,” she said.
Because of manpower limitations, the eagle-moving efforts effectively delayed a National Wildlife Research Center project geared toward studying and identifying a cost-effective deterrent to golden eagle depredation in Wyoming, the research biologist said. Testing of nonlethal deterrents is now slated to take place in 2028 and 2029. And because of the directive, the focus in 2026 and 2027 is changing to moving eagles.
The question of where to bring Wyoming golden eagles is complicated by their predilection for returning, especially if they’re not moved long distances.
“They often come back to the same location,” Perry said. “But it does take some time. A year. Sometimes it’s a little bit faster.”
The goal for 2026 has been to move the large birds of prey toward the Pacific Coast, to put some mountains between the translocated birds and their native ranges. But so far, no other states that meet wildlife managers’ criteria have been willing to take an influx of golden eagles. Animal Damage Management Board member Sharon O’Toole guessed why there have been no takers.
“If I was a livestock producer in that area,” O’Toole said, “I wouldn’t want the eagles turned loose.”
Perry affirmed the hunch.
“Exactly,” she said.
“Basically, they were concerned about us relocating eagles into livestock production lands in their states,” Perry said. “They said, ‘We don’t want to do this right now. We’re going to give it a little bit more time.’”
Addressing livestock conflict with golden eagles is complicated by federal laws that address the native avian predators. They’re protected from most possession and killing by the Bald Eagle Protection Act, which was amended in 1962 to also protect golden eagles.
Golden eagles also are not doing well from a population standpoint. Facing stressors like habitat loss, lead poisoning and wind turbine strikes, numbers in Wyoming have declined by nearly a third over the past 20 years, according to Teton Raptor Center conservation director Bryan Bedrosian.
That is especially worrisome for the species.
“Wyoming is to golden eagles as Wyoming is to sage grouse,” Bedrosian told the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission last October. “We have a quarter of the breeding population of golden eagles in the western United States. We host roughly half of the migrants that come down from Alaska and Canada.”
Yet concurrently, conflict with golden eagles has also been on the upswing. The branch of USDA that addresses conflict, Wildlife Services, reported no hazing of golden eagles in the period from 2016-18. But by 2020, some 19 eagles were hazed, according to an environmental assessment covering bird damage management in Wyoming.
Woolgrowers in places like Johnson County have experienced chronic depredation issues, the Buffalo Bulletin has reported.
Wyoming sheep producers reportedly lost $700,000 worth of lambs related to eagle depredation in 2025, according to the Animal Damage Management Board’s latest annual report.
It’s unclear when the U.S. Department of the Interior and Agriculture-directed translocation efforts will offer relief.
“What’s next?” Perry said. “We’re going to be working with the states and trying to come up with a plan for translocation to try and move some of the eagles.”
