Alberta bighorn killed in highway crash sets world record

For the second time in a row, an Alberta ram has set aworldrecord for the size of its horns.

• Massive Alberta bighorn might be biggest ever

Thebighorn sheepdied in a highway crashnearLongview, buthad been sought out by hunters for years.

"It had a bullet hole in one of its horns," said Jack Graham, the Edmonton man whomeasured the ram.

Graham is withtheBoone and Crockett Club, a U.S.-basedconservation and hunting group that keeps tabs on the biggest game acrossNorth America.

A local rancher, who knew of the ram, found theanimal on his property.

"It was recognized by the locals there, they had seen this ram many times. It's been photographed, it was well-known," said Graham.

Five of the top 10 ranked bighorns in the Boone and Crockett records are from Alberta.

"We have some of the best habitat and, of course, we have the National Parks as a good reserve right in beside the hunting areas for these rams," said Graham.

A preliminary measurement of 533 centimetres or210 inches puts the horns almost two centimetres over the score of the current worldrecord holder, which wasa set belonging to a ramshot by a hunter in Alberta in 2000.