Art Eatman
Moderator In Memoriam
Anybody know anything besides what's in the newspaper?
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040304/ap_on_sc/elk_deaths
Art
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040304/ap_on_sc/elk_deaths
Art
Wyoming Elk Die-off
- Thread starter Art Eatman
- Start date
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No, it's a real whodunnit or whatdunnit, but here are some more links:
http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/more.asp?StoryID=101677
There also is a link to a couple of articles on the WY Game & Fish website at
http://gf.state.wy.us/
http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/more.asp?StoryID=101677
There also is a link to a couple of articles on the WY Game & Fish website at
http://gf.state.wy.us/
mlheppl
Member
Any Hollywood clebrities moving into the area? I would leave the country too if that's the case! 
They are saying there is plenty of food and its NOT CWD.
I think there is some serious bafflement going on.
I think there is some serious bafflement going on.
Harry Tuttle
Member
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2003
- Messages
- 3,093
Wyoming Elk Deaths Remain a Mystery
All Things Considered audio
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1749023
March 5, 2004
Wyoming wildlife officials are struggling to discover the cause of a mysterious paralysis that has led to the death of hundreds of elk. Scientists have ruled out obvious causes and so far have no new leads. Andrew Beck Grace of Wyoming Public Radio reports
All Things Considered audio
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1749023
March 5, 2004
Wyoming wildlife officials are struggling to discover the cause of a mysterious paralysis that has led to the death of hundreds of elk. Scientists have ruled out obvious causes and so far have no new leads. Andrew Beck Grace of Wyoming Public Radio reports
Stealth101
Member
They mention in one of the articles that there is a rail line thru the area. Is it possible something shipped by train leaked ? IE. nerve agent chemicals etc.
Art Eatman
Moderator In Memoriam
Thanks, WYO.
Drouth can do really strange things. It's during dry years that "loco weed" is attractive to cattle, with similar results. At least you can kill out loco weed.
Art
Drouth can do really strange things. It's during dry years that "loco weed" is attractive to cattle, with similar results. At least you can kill out loco weed.
Art
Harry Tuttle
Member
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2003
- Messages
- 3,093
archive;
Lichen the culprit in Wyo. elk die-off
By Theo Stein
Denver Post Environment Writer
A lichen is to blame for the poisoning deaths of close to 300 elk in Wyoming's southern Red Desert this winter, state officials said Sunday.
The announcement ends a grim mystery that had baffled wildlife researchers across the continent since early February. But it raises new and potentially troubling challenges for biologists who will be studying the episode in the coming years.
"This lichen is all over the place out there," said Tom Reed, a spokesman for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. "These elk were apparently turning to this because of the drought conditions, so we have to evaluate what steps we can take to prevent it from happening again if the drought continues."
Wildlife veterinarians had suspected the lichen played a role in the die-off when they found it in the stomachs of several of the 290 dead elk found spread across a 50-square-mile area southwest of Rawlins.
On Sunday, their suspicions were confirmed when a bull elk being fed a diet of only lichen at a research facility in Sybille collapsed and was unable to rise. A second elk, a cow, also began stumbling in an apparent reaction to poisoning by usnic acid, a toxic compound contained in the frail green desert plant. Researchers expect the third elk in the study to succumb quickly. All three will be euthanized.
"It's identical to what we're seeing in the field," said Walt Cook, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department veterinarian leading the inquiry. "He's bright and alert, but he just can't get up. They were watching when it happened and he just kind of stumbled and went to the ground."
Many of the stricken animals found in the Red Rim country south of Interstate 80 since February were alert and barked in alarm at the approach of people. Biologists euthanized about 200 elk to end their suffering. The rest died only after enduring days or weeks of exposure to the Wyoming winter.
The lichen, Parmelia molliuscula, is widespread across an area extending from North Dakota to the Rockies. But an elk kill of this magnitude not directly related to winter starvation has never before been documented.
Other herbivores, including cattle, horses and pronghorn, shared the same ground as the elk this winter - apparently without ill effect.
Lichen are a symbiotic organism. Part algae and part fungus, lichen flourishes in cold, dry habitats such as Arctic tundra or alpine summits that are too extreme for most other plants. But lichens contain compounds, such as the usnic acid in Parmelia, that can be difficult for some animals to digest.
Cook and other researchers theorize that a chain reaction of several factors combined to precipitate the die-off. However, it will take further research to test their ideas.
One of the first tasks will be to examine samples of muscle tissue from the three captive elk to see if they show the same damage seen in dead or dying elk found in the rolling steppe of the Red Desert. That is where coyote hunters first reported the elk were collapsing from an unknown ailment.
Researchers had noticed that both the wild elk and research elk discharged red-colored urine, which Cook now suspects was caused by usnic acid eating away at the animals' muscles.
"Healthy muscle looks like red meat," said Cook. "What we were seeing is pale in color. It looks more like chicken or pork."
The long drought afflicting the region may have allowed levels of usnic acid to build up to toxic levels in the region's lichen. Fifty years ago, during another long drought, agricultural researchers documented similar ailments among cattle and sheep in the state. Cook said more of the plants will be collected and analyzed to see if acid concentrations are higher than elsewhere.
Unlike livestock, which recovered from usnic acid poisoning in the 1950s study, the ailment was 100 percent fatal for elk stricken this winter.
Researchers may examine whether the sick elk, part of a herd of about 4,500 that summer in the Sierra Madre Mountains along the Colorado border, lacked the right kind of microorganisms in their stomachs to neutralize the acid. Biologists noted that another herd of desert-adapted elk wintering just north of I-80 did not fall victim to lichen poisoning. Perhaps the desert elk to the north are avoiding the lichen or perhaps they are more tolerant of it, scientists speculate.
One result of the mass poisoning: The agency will cut back on the number of elk licenses to hunters for the areas where the Sierra Madre herd will be found this coming fall, Reed said. The band of 400 to 600 elk afflicted by lichen poisoning was made up mostly of cows, calves and yearling bulls. Biologists estimate that the lichen killed perhaps 5 percent of the herd's breeding females, a loss that will take more than a year to recoup.
Reed said the agency will have to consider other steps, such as improving the range conditions on the Red Rim Wildlife Management Area, to provide healthier forage in the coming years.
"If we have to chase those elk every time we see them chewing on lichen, it's going to get time-consuming," Cook added.
Lichen the culprit in Wyo. elk die-off
By Theo Stein
Denver Post Environment Writer
A lichen is to blame for the poisoning deaths of close to 300 elk in Wyoming's southern Red Desert this winter, state officials said Sunday.
The announcement ends a grim mystery that had baffled wildlife researchers across the continent since early February. But it raises new and potentially troubling challenges for biologists who will be studying the episode in the coming years.
"This lichen is all over the place out there," said Tom Reed, a spokesman for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. "These elk were apparently turning to this because of the drought conditions, so we have to evaluate what steps we can take to prevent it from happening again if the drought continues."
Wildlife veterinarians had suspected the lichen played a role in the die-off when they found it in the stomachs of several of the 290 dead elk found spread across a 50-square-mile area southwest of Rawlins.
On Sunday, their suspicions were confirmed when a bull elk being fed a diet of only lichen at a research facility in Sybille collapsed and was unable to rise. A second elk, a cow, also began stumbling in an apparent reaction to poisoning by usnic acid, a toxic compound contained in the frail green desert plant. Researchers expect the third elk in the study to succumb quickly. All three will be euthanized.
"It's identical to what we're seeing in the field," said Walt Cook, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department veterinarian leading the inquiry. "He's bright and alert, but he just can't get up. They were watching when it happened and he just kind of stumbled and went to the ground."
Many of the stricken animals found in the Red Rim country south of Interstate 80 since February were alert and barked in alarm at the approach of people. Biologists euthanized about 200 elk to end their suffering. The rest died only after enduring days or weeks of exposure to the Wyoming winter.
The lichen, Parmelia molliuscula, is widespread across an area extending from North Dakota to the Rockies. But an elk kill of this magnitude not directly related to winter starvation has never before been documented.
Other herbivores, including cattle, horses and pronghorn, shared the same ground as the elk this winter - apparently without ill effect.
Lichen are a symbiotic organism. Part algae and part fungus, lichen flourishes in cold, dry habitats such as Arctic tundra or alpine summits that are too extreme for most other plants. But lichens contain compounds, such as the usnic acid in Parmelia, that can be difficult for some animals to digest.
Cook and other researchers theorize that a chain reaction of several factors combined to precipitate the die-off. However, it will take further research to test their ideas.
One of the first tasks will be to examine samples of muscle tissue from the three captive elk to see if they show the same damage seen in dead or dying elk found in the rolling steppe of the Red Desert. That is where coyote hunters first reported the elk were collapsing from an unknown ailment.
Researchers had noticed that both the wild elk and research elk discharged red-colored urine, which Cook now suspects was caused by usnic acid eating away at the animals' muscles.
"Healthy muscle looks like red meat," said Cook. "What we were seeing is pale in color. It looks more like chicken or pork."
The long drought afflicting the region may have allowed levels of usnic acid to build up to toxic levels in the region's lichen. Fifty years ago, during another long drought, agricultural researchers documented similar ailments among cattle and sheep in the state. Cook said more of the plants will be collected and analyzed to see if acid concentrations are higher than elsewhere.
Unlike livestock, which recovered from usnic acid poisoning in the 1950s study, the ailment was 100 percent fatal for elk stricken this winter.
Researchers may examine whether the sick elk, part of a herd of about 4,500 that summer in the Sierra Madre Mountains along the Colorado border, lacked the right kind of microorganisms in their stomachs to neutralize the acid. Biologists noted that another herd of desert-adapted elk wintering just north of I-80 did not fall victim to lichen poisoning. Perhaps the desert elk to the north are avoiding the lichen or perhaps they are more tolerant of it, scientists speculate.
One result of the mass poisoning: The agency will cut back on the number of elk licenses to hunters for the areas where the Sierra Madre herd will be found this coming fall, Reed said. The band of 400 to 600 elk afflicted by lichen poisoning was made up mostly of cows, calves and yearling bulls. Biologists estimate that the lichen killed perhaps 5 percent of the herd's breeding females, a loss that will take more than a year to recoup.
Reed said the agency will have to consider other steps, such as improving the range conditions on the Red Rim Wildlife Management Area, to provide healthier forage in the coming years.
"If we have to chase those elk every time we see them chewing on lichen, it's going to get time-consuming," Cook added.
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