Only in Colorado: Bighorn sheep gets stuck on roof of Boulder County home

Miles Blumhardt, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Updated ·2 min read
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A male bighorn sheep is shown on the roof of a Boulder County home on Dec. 5, 2023. Wildlife officials aren't sure how the ram got onto the roof. The ram finally returned to the foothills after spending 36 hours at the home.
A male bighorn sheep is shown on the roof of a Boulder County home on Dec. 5, 2023. Wildlife officials aren't sure how the ram got onto the roof. The ram finally returned to the foothills after spending 36 hours at the home.

Colorado offers up plenty of strange wildlife encounters.

But this week, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials believe they experienced a first: A bighorn sheep on a roof.

The strange story happened in unincorporated Boulder County on Tuesday when a homeowner noticed a bighorn ram on his roof, said Kara Van Hoose, a spokesperson for the state wildlife agency.

The agency was informed of the strange event and a wildlife officer responded. The initial hope was the healthy, sub-adult ram would come down on his own. But on the roof of the two-story home is where he stayed for most of Tuesday.

"We really aren't sure how he got up on the roof,'' Van Hoose said. "They can jump, but I'm not sure if the house backed up to a hill or something like that.''

A male bighorn sheep is shown on the roof of a Boulder County home on Dec. 5, 2023. Wildlife officials aren't sure how the ram got onto the roof. The ram finally returned to the foothills after spending 36 hours at the home.
A male bighorn sheep is shown on the roof of a Boulder County home on Dec. 5, 2023. Wildlife officials aren't sure how the ram got onto the roof. The ram finally returned to the foothills after spending 36 hours at the home.

The ram finally made his way off the roof Wednesday but then became stranded on the home's raised wooden deck, which was enclosed with a 4-foot railing.

It wasn't until a wildlife officer cut and removed a section of the wooden railing that the ram finally left for the surrounding foothills after spending about 36 hours at the house. On the way out, the ram made sure to get his photo taken by a game camera the agency had set up to monitor his movement.

"He was unfamiliar with his surroundings and couldn't figure out how to get out of where he was," Van Hoose said. "It wasn't until he had a clear of line site to the ground that he got down.''

A male bighorn sheep is shown on the raised wooden deck of a Boulder County home on Dec. 6, 2023. Wildlife officials had to cut and remove a section of the deck before the ram could figure out how to escape.
A male bighorn sheep is shown on the raised wooden deck of a Boulder County home on Dec. 6, 2023. Wildlife officials had to cut and remove a section of the deck before the ram could figure out how to escape.

Van Hoose said bighorn sheep, the state animal, do exist in Boulder County but the herd typically is not in the area where the house is located. She said bighorn sheep are at the end of their mating season and that might have caused the ram to wander into his predicament.

"He did seem enamored with his reflection in the window, like a bird does," she said.

Boulder County and the city of Boulder are located in the Rocky Mountain foothills, so wildlife encounters come naturally. County and city residents have had encounters with mountain lions, black bears and moose.

But a bighorn sheep on a roof? After all, that is the mascot of University of Colorado's rival Colorado State University.

"We do get some unique wildlife calls, but we think this one was pretty unique,'' Van Hoose said.

Thankfully it wasn't a buffalo, the University of Colorado mascot.

A male bighorn sheep is shown on a Colorado Parks and Wildlife game camera Dec. 6, 2023, leaving after spending 36 hours trapped first on the roof of a Boulder County house and then on a raised wooden deck.
A male bighorn sheep is shown on a Colorado Parks and Wildlife game camera Dec. 6, 2023, leaving after spending 36 hours trapped first on the roof of a Boulder County house and then on a raised wooden deck.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Bighorn sheep stuck on Boulder County roof. That's very Colorado