So far the elk tested from Rex Rammell’s elk shooting farm have tested negative for diseases or the genes of red deer (European elk). Not all have been tested.
The escape of his domestic elk was a big controversy a month ago and was covered heavily on this blog and in the main stream media. I won’t recapitulate.
Read the story in the Idaho Falls Post Register.
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Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
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It of course wasn’t noted that one of the wild elk shot by F&G by accident during this ordeal tested positive for Liver Fluke. There aren’t even parasites in the domestic elk that have been tested that escaped or in the facility which were tested as well.
ALL of the test results are in now on all the escaped elk that were killed and the elk in the facility: THEY ARE ALL PURE ELK (no red deer hybrids) THERE IS NO DISEASE OR PARASITES. But at least one of the wild elk was infested with large Liver Fluke. Hmmmmm…….
The presence of this parasite in the wild elk is a very good reason to make sure that wild elk and domestic elk don’t have any contact through the fences.
If you read about the various native diseases and parasites that can infect elk, deer, wolves, coyotes–any wild animal, it is amazing and may be worrisome. I’m sure many of these could be passed to domestic elk, and vice versa, although the danger of each probably varies according to whether they are wild or captive.
The Montana Mange has spread to the Gray Wolf population in Ontario, Canada. Rescue efforts to trap and quarantine four immature and two adult wolves are currently underway. The Toronto Wildlife Centre. is the group that is organising this effort. It is going to be quite a challenge to trap all of the wolves. Failure to do so will almost certainly result in the wolves dying from exposure. Thankfully the temperature in Northern Ontario are quite mild for this time of year but Old Man Winter is close at hand.
Jim Adams
November 9/06