Elk eradication to be discussed at Tuesday meeting

The Department of Natural Resources will host a public meeting Tuesday, March 1, 2011, in Waukon to discuss its efforts to eradicate a free-roaming elk herd that poses a potential disease threat.

The meeting, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Waukon Banquet Center, 612 Rossville Rd., will feature DNR wildlife bureau chief Dale Garner and Dr. David Schmitt, state veterinarian for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

In the past two weeks, the DNR, with agriculture department concurrence, has killed three elk believed to be escapees from captivity to have them tested for chronic wasting disease (CWD) and other livestock-related diseases such as tuberculosis and brucellosis.

At least two elk remain at large in a heavily wooded area near the Yellow River in Allamakee County.

Several area residents have said the eradication effort should be suspended long enough to study the prospects of re-establishing a population of wild elk in Iowa.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, whose top priorities include re-establishing wild elk herds, typically defers to state and federal wildlife officials in such matters, said Ralph Cinfio, operations director for the organization's Central Division.

"I can tell you, we do not like having to kill these animals, but we simply do not know where they came from,” said Garner, adding that it is extremely unlikely that they are wild elk.

While acknowledging that the disease risk posed by the elk may be small, Garner said “the consequence to the resource is enormous” and should be avoided.

Garner said the problems associated with CWD, a contagious and always-fatal neurological disease affecting deer and elk, are unfolding in Wisconsin where more than 20 percent of the male deer in the core area are infected with the disease.

Since 2007, he said, there have been 48 instances in Iowa of elk escaping from captive herds involving 81 animals.

If the elk cannot be returned to their owners, they are dispatched and tested for CWD. If the test is negative, as all have been so far in Iowa, the meat is donated to local needy families or a food bank.