Elk Leave Area Plagued by Mystery Deaths

[DustMolecule]

RAWLINS, Wyo. - Elk are starting to move out of an area where nearly 300 have died from mysterious causes in the past month.

During a recent flight, dozens of elk carcasses could be seen from the air. At least 289 elk have died or been euthanized since early last month as the result of an ailment that left many unable to get up, Game and Fish spokesman Tom Reed said.

It remains unclear how many other elk could be affected. The area they were found in is rugged and steep, meaning some animals could be hidden from view in deep washes and gullies, Reed said.

A number of possibilities have been ruled out, but researchers found lichen from the area in the stomachs of several elk and are now feeding the lichen to other elk to determine its potential effects, Game and Fish veterinarian Walter Cook said.

"We think that it is at least a possibility," he said. "I wouldn't say it is a high probability."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=624&u=/ap/20040312/ap_on_sc/elk_deaths_1&printer=1

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Do you think they have checked the elk for BSE (mad cow disease) yet?

[achtung_circus]

1. Check here for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)

<http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/cwd/>
Wyoming has problems, as do many western States and Provinces

[Gin]

2. Got this email regarding the Elk...and a story on Rense.

Interview With Wyoming Game and Fish Dept. Supervisor Scheduled
by Mitch Battros (ECTV) Mar 8, 2004, 22:03 pst

Earlier today, I was on the phone with Wyoming Fish and Game Dept. supervisor Tom Reed. He has agreed to come on ECTV “Radio Hour’ Tuesday March 16th. In our brief phone conversation when setting up our interview, I did ask Mr. Reed if he had considered a connection of sudden elk deaths, with recent seismic activity. His response was "No, but I will look into it.”

In a brief response, Wyoming Fish and Game Dept. Information Supervisor Tom Reed, did mention they are looking into lethal gases such as methane and sulphur as possible cause. Mr. Reed’s statement simply says “we are not closing ourselves to any possibility. It has us all baffled, and we just don’t know which direction to take at this time. No one at this agency has ever seen anything like this before”.

Reed says veterinarians, toxicologist, and CDC representatives are working around the clock to determine what has caused hundreds of “healthy” elk to suddenly become “paralyzed” and later die of apparent asphyxiation. I can’t help but get a picture of scenes of what animals do when exposed to ‘nerve gas’. I am not saying this is the case, I’m just saying the vivid description is consistent with actions witnessed when animals had been exposed to toxic biological weapons. If this is the case, one cannot rule out underground military operations of which something went terribly wrong. I don’t mind telling you, at this point I am a bit nervous as to what is going on, and quite possibly, been hidden from the public.



ALSO.........A news release has just been published. A disaster drill is now scheduled for Yellowstone County. It is scheduled to occur in two weeks, on Sunday March 21st. I am a bit frightened that this is “not a drill”. I am beginning to believe something got away from some secret underground testing, and they can’t put the genie back in the bottle. What I am about to write is not conjecture or the screen play for the next Stephen King movie. No, this is real and it is now.
Here it comes, having been personally confirmed by sources as facts. Hundreds of emergency responders, law enforcement officers and medical workers will take part this month in what is likely to be the largest disaster drill ever staged in Yellowstone County. The drill will start on Sunday, March 21, when there will be a simulated gas release at Rimrock Mall. The next day, there will be simulated incidents at three different sites, including a truck-bomb explosion at the Conoco Refinery.
Under the disaster scenario, two other "terrorists" will be driving truck bombs with plans to attack the two other refineries in the valley. Instead, they will panic and drive to high schools - West High and Laurel High - park outside and enter the schools.



Jim Kraft, director of emergency and general services for Yellowstone County, said there will be a simulated evacuation at the refinery, and many "injured" workers will be taken to the two city hospitals. At the high schools, officials will have to deal with the truck bombs in the parking lots while sending SWAT teams into the schools to apprehend the terrorists.

The drill will involve, besides Kraft's department, police and fire departments from Billings and Laurel, the Lockwood Volunteer Fire Department, all three refineries, American Medical Response, the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office, Montana Highway Patrol, both hospitals, the Red Cross, the City-County Health Department, the FBI, the dispatch center, West and Laurel high schools and Rimrock Mall.






________________________________

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. Why Yellowstone?

Why not LA or St Louis?

You may be onto something here, Gin. Thanks for your post.

[MisterP]

4. I recall much of it's spread by game farms

and many of the elks might leave Yellowstone altogether, leaving them to the tender mercies of WY and MT cattlemen (along with the buffalo and the wolves following them)

[Cleita]

6. The cattle people are allowed to kill any

of the buffalo, elk and wolves who wander out of Yellowstone.

[MisterP]

7. yeah, that's what I meant

[Cleita]

5. I took this picture in Yellowstone during the fall when they

were rutting. Here the bull elk has lured his harem into a natural hot spring which is sort of a nice hot tub, since it was getting very cold at that time.