ROCKWOOD – Wildlife officials released 28 bighorn sheep in Cascade Canyon on Saturday, marking the animals’ first return to the San Juan Mountains in a decade.

The sheep were scheduled for a free ride on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad passenger train, but because of weather delays they had to settle on being towed in a railroad car by a maintenance vehicle.

Two hundred train passengers, who were delayed several hours because an engine derailed before leaving the station, did get to see the release. Snow and ice on the tracks were responsible for the derailment, said Dan McCall, vice president of operations.

"We’re just absolutely delighted to have an opportunity to help and to see the magnificent animals" return to their home, McCall said.

When the car stopped, wildlife officers cleared a long path in a pasture through 3-4 feet of snow and opened a door on the boxcar. The sheep leaped out of the car and darted into the mountains.

It took less than 30 seconds for all 28 bighorn sheep to exit the car.

Media personnel from Rocky Mountain PBS, National Geographic, KOBF in Farmington and The Denver Post got to see the release.

The sheep came from the Georgetown bighorn-sheep herd, where there were too many sheep for the range to sustain. When the number of animals exceeds capacity, the Division of Wildlife traps the excess and sends them to a new area.

About three weeks ago the DOW sent 22 sheep from its Basalt herd to Utah.

The bighorns for the Animas River release were trapped Friday and taken to Durango by horse trailers.

The animals are not endangered, but their numbers dropped significantly in the 1950s.

Bighorn sheep have been absent from the Durango area since the 1980s.

DOW officials believe herds may have died out from poaching, loss of habitat to human development in winter ranges, and alteration of habitat because of fire suppression. Another possibility is that they came into contact with domestic sheep and acquired a disease that domestic sheep carry, but aren’t affected by, said Drayton Harrison, Durango DOW manager.

The number of domestic sheep grazing in the area where the bighorns were released has been reduced substantially in the past few years and the chance of the released sheep coming into contact with domestic sheep is minimal, Harrison said.

The sheep were left salt licks, hay and warm blocks made of a molasses base that contains an anti-parasite medicine.