After 22 years as the chief biologist at the National Elk Refuge, Bruce Smith pens an easy-to-read, but stark warning about continuing elk feeding-
Prions are bit like tiny pieces of radioactive material in that they are very dangerous promoters of illness and for practical purposes never really go away, resting in the dust and […]
Continue Reading →Wintering elk on Refuge to be reduced to 5000 to 7000-
Angus M. Thuermer Jr. of the Jackson Hole News and Guide has written another article on the problem of too many wintering elk in the vicinity of Jackson Hole — too many elk at the feedgrounds and national elk refuge to avoid a […]
Continue Reading →Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been found in elk, deer, and moose in several areas of Wyoming and has been moving ever closer to the already brucellosis infected elk herds that use feeding grounds in northwest Wyoming. The feeding grounds long ago caused the elk to stop migrating to a unique area along the Continental […]
Continue Reading →Another subsidy to private Ag interests at the public expense.
Other states require testing of 100% of each private elk herd but the Idaho Legislature is requiring much less from Idaho’s elk growers and slipping money away from funds intended for the enhancement of wildlife. Idaho Senate Bill 1085 would require testing of “not more than […]
Continue Reading →Currently Chronic Wasting Disease does not infect humans, but . . .
Chronic wasting disease is spreading more and more widely. Our anti-conservation friends in the Department of Livestock and the various anti-wolf groups worry about brucellosis and dog tapeworms, but here is something that would be truly terrifying. Prions jumped from sheep probably to […]
Continue Reading →There will be media stories, good comments, and ignorant angry comments, but here’s one from a person who knows-
Without commenting specifically on numbers or distribution of hunting quotas, I offer just these notes for your consideration.
Aldo Leopold; forester, wildlife ecologist, conservationist, father of game management in America, lived from 1887 to 1948. In […]
Continue Reading →Brain disease is already established in Utah deer-
Utah’s large moose population seems to be free of this spongiform encephalopathy so far.
Chronic wasting disease claims 1st Utah elk. By Brett Prettyman. The Salt Lake Tribune
Continue Reading →Could predation slow the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease?
A study conducted in Colorado, where chronic wasting disease (CWD) has become widespread among deer and elk, indicates that mountain lions prey selectively on infected individuals over healthy deer. I think that healthy populations of large carnivores like wolves and mountain lions could help slow the […]
Continue Reading →They read the article in Nature we posted last week!
Feces on feedgrounds could spread wasting disease. Officials call for phaseout of feeding elk herds. By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole News and Guide.
At least we heard from some groups and officials about the direct implications of the study in Nature, but what about […]
Continue Reading →It’s in their droppings, and the infectious prions never go away!
Really, really bad news about chronic wasting disease. Study Spells Out Spread of Brain Illness in Animals. By Sandra Blakeslee. New York Times.
“Dr. Aiken said prions tended to bind to clay in soil and to persist indefinitely. When deer graze on infected […]
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