By Cory Hatch
September 9, 2006
Aided by a helicopter, seven teams of Idaho wildlife officers were scheduled Saturday morning to track down and kill roughly 160 domestic elk that escaped from a ranch near Tetonia last month.
On Friday afternoon, officials in Idaho held off on Gov. Jim Risch’s request to allow a wider depredation hunt on the animals. But Idaho Fish and Game Director Steve Mealey could call for such an action in the next few days if the weekend’s hunt is unsuccessful.
“Conservation officers and Idaho Department of Agriculture officers will begin at dawn tomorrow to take as many of the domestic Cervidae as possible,” Idaho Fish and Game spokesman Ed Mitchell said Friday.
Mitchell said he referred to the animals as Cervidae, the scientific family that includes elk, deer, moose, and caribou, because the animals could be hybrids of more than one species. “We have very low confidence in their genetic purity,” he said.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department on Friday also authorized its officers to kill the animals on sight, but has not organized a formal hunt because of personnel shortages due to the arrival of hunting season, agency spokeswoman Robin Kepple said.
More than 200 elk broke through a fence at the 2,000-acre Chief Joseph hunter’s reserve, roughly 10 miles from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, in early August. Idaho officials learned about the escape after the ranch’s neighbors reported the animals in their yards Aug. 14.
About 40 of the fugitive elk have been captured after the discovery of their escape.
Officials across Idaho and Wyoming have raised concerns about possible diseases the domestic elk might carry such as brucellosis, chronic wasting disease, liver flukes and tuberculosis.
But a bigger concern is the animals will ruin the genetic purity of the region’s wild elk. If the domestic animals carry non-native genes and breed with native elk, the native elk population could change their foraging habits or become more susceptible to disease, Kepple said.
Even if the animals don’t breed outside the herd, the probable hybrids might out-compete native elk, pushing them out of their native range. “We don’t want to jeopardize our wild population with unknowns,” Kepple said.
So far, Yellowstone and Grand Teton officials have refrained from ordering park rangers to kill the escaped elk. Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said that could change as more information comes in about the animals. “The question about a genetic impact is of paramount importance,” he said.
Grand Teton spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo said it would be “quite disastrous” if the elk were to intermingle.
Mitchell said Idaho Fish and Game takes the escaped elk and the possible consequences “as serious as a heart attack.”
In 2002, Rex Rammell, owner of the elk, successfully lobbied the Idaho Legislature to drop a $750,000 fine that was imposed after he failed to properly tag the animals with blaze orange tags.
For hunters, both state and private, the lack of blaze orange tags could make the elk difficult to differentiate from wild elk. Officials said that some domestic elk have orange tags, but most have silver tags that are difficult to spot.
Rammell did not return calls for comment.
Private hunters in Idaho who mistake the domestic elk for wild elk will not lose their tag and may keep hunting, but they are encouraged to report the kill to Idaho Fish and Game officers, Mitchell said. “They need to notify us immediately and they can go on with their hunt,” he said.
When and if Idaho officials shoot the domestic elk, Mitchell said the animals would be salvaged, tested for disease and then frozen. “When the tests are back, and if [the domestic elk] are fine, they will go to charities in the area,” Mitchell said about the meat.
I can't imagine when a biologist would have "heard" of science.
What if they lose their ear tags? How do they tell them from wild elk? Sounds like a bad deal. I'm not a fan of the 'farming' of wildlife species endemic to an area. 
