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TWRA FINDS TWO DEAD ELK ON ROYAL BLUE
courtesy of TWRA
The remains of two dead elk have been discovered on the Royal Blue
Wildlife Management Area, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources
Agency (TWRA).This is the first documented mortality in Tennessee's new
elk herd.
On Monday, January 15, the remains of a dead elk calf was found
approximately 1 ½ miles north of the site where the fifty elk had been
released on December 19, 2000.
A second elk carcass, a 600-pound bull, was found by an aerial
survey and a follow-up ground crew on January 17 near the release site.
The location of the carcasses was made possible by the radio transmitter
collar worn by the elk. Both elk carcasses were transported to the
University of Tennessee for a necropsy.
"The carcasses were partially eaten and decomposed to the
state that we could not determine the cause of death," said Steve
Bennett, TWRA's elk biologist. "We had picked up a mortality
signal on these animals earlier, but the collars later gave off a live
signal. This may have been due to movement of the collars as
coyotes or other scavengers fed on the carcasses."
In addition to these two dead animals, there have been two elk
collars found, but no elk remains were found. The two collars,
found on January 10 and 13, were partially buried in the snow and
leaves. Both collars had been chewed on by animals. Portions
of the collars were missing when located by the trackers. Since
the animal carcasses were not found, there was no way to determine any
cause of death or if in fact they are dead.
Each elk loss will be investigated in an effort to determine if
the death was the result of natural causes or poaching."The death
of these animals fits with what we would expect from translocation
myopathy," said Larry Marcum, TWRA's chief of wildlife.
"There is generally some mortality of animals several days after
they are released due to stress of being handled, moved, etc. We
might expect some additional mortality over the next few weeks."
Since January 2, all of the 46 other elk that were released, have
been located with electronic receivers. As with any restoration
project, the success of elk restoration will depend upon the protection
given these animals. Any poaching activity is detrimental to the
program. In an effort to minimize this problem and to encourage
the public to provide information about poaching activity, the TWRA
offers a reward of up to $1,000 for information which leads to the
arrest and conviction of wildlife poachers.
"The people who live in the local area have accepted the elk
with a very positive attitude," said Bennett. "There is
a lot of interest in the elk project among people who live in and around
the area."
Rumors have a way of starting and spreading. There have been
rumors spreading that an individual has been arrested and put in jail by
TWRA for poaching one of the elk which was released. There has not
been anyone arrested for poaching elk.
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