In the mid-1980s, West Texas had about 17,000 Pronghorns.....Since then, the population has mostly been on the decline to a 30-year low of 3,745 animals recorded last year...... Researchers say that while the animals have been affected by drought at times, that alone can't explain the decline..........Wolves are not the cause of the decline as Red Wolves have been absent from Texas since the early 1920's..........Among possible culprits is a type of parasitic worm that has been found in high numbers in West Texas pronghorn...... But it is possible the worms are simply taking advantage of pronghorn weakened by something else.....As Pronghorn are reluctant to jump fences, livestock heavy Texas might have to find a way to install Pronghorn-friendly fences to give this iconic speicies a chance at long-term survival

Drought delays moving pronghorn to West Texas

Researchers to wait till next year to add more pronghorn to declining West Texas population

KSAT.COM

DALLAS (AP) — Researchers studying the decline of the pronghorn population in West Texas will wait until at least next year to relocate more of the animals to the area because of the ongoing drought.

"We will not make any headway until that drought is reversed," said Louis Harveson, director of the Borderlands Research Institute for Natural Resource Management at Sul Ross State University in Alpine.

The institute is working with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to study the drop.
Researchers had hoped that studying pronghorn transplanted last spring from the Panhandle — where there's a thriving population — would both bolster the population and provide some clues about what was wrong among West Texas pronghorn.

But a year of harsh conditions including freezes, drought, extreme heat and wildfires took a toll on the research. Harveson said once rains to return to the area, researchers are hopeful they can bring around 500 of the animals to the area.

Pronghorn have a body type somewhat like a deer, with distinctive white stripes on their faces and necks and white markings that come halfway up their sides.

In the mid-1980s, West Texas had about 17,000 of the animals, but since then the population has mostly been on the decline to a 30-year low of 3,745 animals recorded last year. Researchers say that while the animals have been affected by drought at times, that alone can't explain the decline. For instance, following drought in the 1990s, pronghorn populations showed an initial recovery before continuing a decline even after good rainfalls.

Among possible culprits is a type of parasitic worm that has been found in high numbers in West Texas pronghorn. But it is possible the worms are simply taking advantage of pronghorn weakened by something else.

Eighty of the about 200 pronghorn that were transplanted to West Texas in February 2011 were fitted with radio collars. Of those, 63 died: 11 died in transport or from effects of the transport; 15 were killed by predators; two were killed by vehicles; two died from the parasitic worm and 33 died of unknown causes.
Harveson said it's often hard to determine the cause of death if they don't get to the body soon enough because of the damage done by animals eating the carcass.

Among the early findings of researchers is that Among possible culprits is a type of parasitic worm that has been found in high numbers in West Texas pronghorn. But it is possible the worms are simply taking advantage of pronghorn weakened by something else.

 Pronghorn are reluctant to jump fences, so a pronghorn-friendly fence would be far enough off the ground for them to squeeze under. "We're not out of the woods. We still have a long road ahead of us," Harveson said. "We're hoping everyone won't give up on the pronghorn."