Three Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) employees have been killed in a helicopter crash while conducting aerial surveys for desert bighorn sheep in the southwestern part of the state, according to officials.
The accident happened on Saturday in the remote wild of the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area, which is located next to the Big Bend National Park, on the Rio Grande that marks the border with Mexico.
The victims of the crash were identified as wildlife biologist Dewey Stockbridge, fish and wildlife technician Brandon White, and state wildlife veterinarian Bob Dittmar, according to the TPWD.
Officials said the pilot survived the crash and was taken to El Paso, the westernmost city in Texas, on the border with New Mexico, for further treatment, and the patient’s condition is currently not public.
“No words can begin to express the depth of sadness we feel for the loss of our colleagues in this tragic accident, ”said Carter Smith, CEO of TPWD, in a statement.
Smith said they were “highly regarded … for the immense passion, dedication and expertise they brought to their important work in wildlife management and veterinary medicine” and that they performed “her calling to help investigate, supervise and protect the bighorns of her favorite mountains in western Texas ”.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott asked Texans to pray for the families of the victims of the crash, adding as part of a statement that “our hearts are in pain today.”
Details about the accident have so far been limited and an official investigation by the authorities is underway, according to local media reports.
Desert bighorn sheep are carefully studied in the wildlife management area. They were a formerly always natural animal in earlier times and were successfully reintroduced after being outcasts for their meat through the 1960s and to reduce competition with local sheep.
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