Idaho Statesman

Article published Sep 7, 2006

More than 100 domestic elk escape near Yellowstone

More than 100 domestic elk have escaped from a private game reserve on the border of Yellowstone National Park in eastern Idaho, raising fears the animals will blemish the genetic purity of wild herds, spread disease and flummox hunters.

The elk apparently broke through a fence weeks ago on the Chief Joseph hunting reserve on the fringe of the Targhee National Forest, 10 miles from the southwestern border of Yellowstone.

"This is the train wreck we've seen coming for a long time," Steve Huffaker, director of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, said Wednesday in announcing the escape.
"This is far and away the most (domestic) elk that have ever escaped," said John Chatburn, deputy administrator for the Department of Agriculture.

In 2002, Rex Rammell, Chief Joseph's owner and a longtime veterinarian, successfully lobbied the Idaho Legislature to forgive most of the more than $750,000 he owed to the state for failing to apply blaze-orange ear tags to identify the animals as domestic. Regulators also said he improperly maintained protective fencing on an elk ranch 35 miles east of Rexburg.
Rammell has a court case pending over an infraction at his elk ranch.

He has clashed with the state Department of Agriculture over his refusal to allow state regulators to inspect his elk for chronic wasting disease.

The incurable disease kills elk by boring tiny holes in their brains.
Wildlife officials fear the domestic elk could spread the disease, which has never been found in Idaho, or other sicknesses like brucellosis, liver flukes and tuberculosis.

Other concerns trail behind the escape. Archery season for elk began Aug. 30, and Huffaker said hunters will be unable to distinguish between wild elk, which are legal to shoot, and the domestic elk, which are private property.
Rammell charges up to $6,000 to kill a domestic bull elk on his property, according to his Chief Joseph Idaho Web site.

Steve Schmidt, a Fish and Game regional supervisor in Idaho Falls, said it wouldn't be illegal for a hunter to kill one of Rammell's escaped elk, the hunter could not tag it.

"Once that animal escapes, it does not become a wild elk," he said. "It's just not appropriate to use an elk tag on a domestic animal."
Idaho code releases individual hunters and the state from financial or legal liability if a domestic animal that has been loose for more than seven days is mistakenly killed.

Still, whether Rammell decides to sue confused hunters for compensation is anyone's guess, Huffaker said. Rammell did not return calls from The Associated Press on Wednesday.
"It's a mess, that's all I know," Huffaker said. "I've never been a big fan of domestic elk. I figure elk are in the wild and that's the way God made them."