JoseCuervo
New member
Here is an update on the escape from last month... Seems like 6 Bulls are still out there, wearing them Texas Game Record Book Yellow ear tags....
Elk escape shows danger of game farms
Missoulian Opinion
Summary: The recent escape of 24 elk from a Fergus County game farm shows how easily accidents can happen, endangering Montana’s wild animals and our hunting and outdoor heritage.
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We hate to say we told you so, but we told you so.
Despite game farmers’ reassurances that they keep their animals responsibly confined so they are not a threat to wild populations, a fallen tree on a fence last month near Winifred let 24 domesticated elk escape their game farm.
The elk belonged to the Judith River Ranch, very close to the Missouri-Judith River Breaks area, home to world-class wild elk that draw hunters every fall and are part of the natural beauty and balance of the country. As of Tuesday, six game-farm bulls were still at large. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks authorities are hoping that a new influx of hunters this weekend in District 426 will run across the animals with their large yellow ear tags.
Game farming is distasteful, even abhorrent, to most Montana hunters because of the utter unfairness of shooting captive animals. In addition, the fish-in-a-barrel hunts that went on at game farms before the 2000 voter-initiated ban did not benefit the local economies the way fair-chase hunters do. Game farm visitors paid big money to fly in and shoot an animal, usually being picked up at the airport and fed and lodged at the game farm.
More important is the danger that domesticated animals pose to wild animal populations. Wild animals are at risk of contamination of their gene pools when domesticated elk escape, weakening the wild herds. The threat of domesticated animals spreading chronic wasting disease into Montana’s disease-free, pristine herds is grave. Besides the danger to the animals themselves, it would devastate Montana’s hunting tradition and the activities and economics surrounding it. CWD was found in elk on a Montana game farm four years ago.
Especially annoying in this game leak is the Fish, Wildlife and Parks staff time, money and resources spent trying to track down these elk. For two weeks, five to six staff people worked in vehicles, on horseback and in helicopters in and over this vast country. License dollars paid for it all. And those employees’ time was taken away from their regular jobs serving sportsmen and women and wildlife.
In the nearly four years since CWD was discovered at a game farm near Philipsburg, 2,700 to 3,000 elk have been tested without a positive result. We need to keep it that way. Last month, a federal judge reaffirmed the legalities of Initiative 143, the ban on game farms passed by Montana voters in 2000. This escape of farmed elk illustrates why it’s important.
Elk escape shows danger of game farms
Missoulian Opinion
Summary: The recent escape of 24 elk from a Fergus County game farm shows how easily accidents can happen, endangering Montana’s wild animals and our hunting and outdoor heritage.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We hate to say we told you so, but we told you so.
Despite game farmers’ reassurances that they keep their animals responsibly confined so they are not a threat to wild populations, a fallen tree on a fence last month near Winifred let 24 domesticated elk escape their game farm.
The elk belonged to the Judith River Ranch, very close to the Missouri-Judith River Breaks area, home to world-class wild elk that draw hunters every fall and are part of the natural beauty and balance of the country. As of Tuesday, six game-farm bulls were still at large. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks authorities are hoping that a new influx of hunters this weekend in District 426 will run across the animals with their large yellow ear tags.
Game farming is distasteful, even abhorrent, to most Montana hunters because of the utter unfairness of shooting captive animals. In addition, the fish-in-a-barrel hunts that went on at game farms before the 2000 voter-initiated ban did not benefit the local economies the way fair-chase hunters do. Game farm visitors paid big money to fly in and shoot an animal, usually being picked up at the airport and fed and lodged at the game farm.
More important is the danger that domesticated animals pose to wild animal populations. Wild animals are at risk of contamination of their gene pools when domesticated elk escape, weakening the wild herds. The threat of domesticated animals spreading chronic wasting disease into Montana’s disease-free, pristine herds is grave. Besides the danger to the animals themselves, it would devastate Montana’s hunting tradition and the activities and economics surrounding it. CWD was found in elk on a Montana game farm four years ago.
Especially annoying in this game leak is the Fish, Wildlife and Parks staff time, money and resources spent trying to track down these elk. For two weeks, five to six staff people worked in vehicles, on horseback and in helicopters in and over this vast country. License dollars paid for it all. And those employees’ time was taken away from their regular jobs serving sportsmen and women and wildlife.
In the nearly four years since CWD was discovered at a game farm near Philipsburg, 2,700 to 3,000 elk have been tested without a positive result. We need to keep it that way. Last month, a federal judge reaffirmed the legalities of Initiative 143, the ban on game farms passed by Montana voters in 2000. This escape of farmed elk illustrates why it’s important.
