An always-fatal, highly contagious neurological disease has been detected on the National Elk Refuge for the first time, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Wyoming Game and Fish.
Teddy Collins, Wyoming conservation associate with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, said he knew this day was coming.
“I am not that emotional,” he said. “Because it was not a matter of if, it was a matter of when.”
In recent years, biologists have looked on as Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a prion-caused condition, accelerated its encroachment on Wyoming’s largest feedground. Following the May 4 announcement of a detection near Pinedale, the refuge is the sixth feedground in Wyoming to have a positive elk CWD case.
Collins said it remains to be seen how quickly it will spread and kill elk in the approximately 10,000-member Jackson Herd. But he said Monday’s announcement highlights a need for change.
“We cannot keep operating in the status quo,” he said. “The science clearly states that feeding operations, whether it's state-run feedgrounds or the National Elk Refuge, these feeding efforts will have negative impacts on Wyoming's elk herds because of disease transmission.”
The state and feds have moved to cut back on feeding, but incrementally and over years. Montana has asked Wyoming to follow its lead and quit feeding. And recent studies show disease may kill more elk in the long run than risked by starvation with fewer alfalfa pellets.
But that’s been controversial to several legacy Wyoming groups, like ranchers who want to keep hungry elk away from cattle feed. Some outfitters, hunters, and guides fear feedground closures will kill a way of life.
Still, Collins is not the only conservationist to see the new detection as a call for change.
“Feedgrounds were created for understandable reasons, including sustaining elk populations and reducing conflict with livestock,” said Craig Benjamin, executive director of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation in a statement to KHOL. “But concentrating animals also increases long-term disease risk.”
In a press release, the state and feds said refuge staff will increase monitoring, re-evaluate some existing programs and put in more bio-security protocols to “keep people and wildlife safe.”
The path ahead for elk and other impacted ungulates like moose and deer, will be barbed with bureaucracy. Benjamin said that should also include the hard work of bringing people together to find “practical, long-term solutions” for healthy herds.
“There’s no silver bullet here, and no simple answer,” Benjamin wrote.
