On October 15, 2010 the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) released an elk restoration plan. This release has come about due to renewed interest in the native elk population, and the plan outlines the zones that the elk will be restored to, habitat management, herd management, animal health, stakeholder involvement and the recreational and economic benefits of reintroducing elk in to Missouri.
Up to 150 cows and bulls will be restored to Carter, Shannon and Reynolds Counties in Southwest Missouri as early as 2011. According to the MDC website, the plan calls for releasing elk into a 346-square-mile ‘restoration zone’ in and around the Peck Ranch Conservation Area. This area is mainly forest and open woodlands, with limited agricultural activity.
Animal health is the main concern following the restoration plan. The MDC website restoration plan outlines a herd management procedure which states, “Following our established animal-health-testing protocol, the elk will be held in a pen in the state of origin for disease testing prior to moving to Missouri. After disease testing is complete, the elk will be transported to a temporary holding facility on MDC land in the restoration zone to further evaluate animal health, minimize movement, let the elk acclimate to the new environment and fit the elk with radio collars and microchips to track movement.”
Furthermore, MDC stated that the health-testing protocol for the elk restoration effort is more stringent than animal-movement protocols currently required to move livestock or captive elk into Missouri. Current states which have followed similar protocols have resulted in no cases of disease transmission to livestock or wildlife.
Lonnie Hansen, Resource Scientist with the MDC, explained that elk do carry some diseases that could affect livestock, “most notably brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis.” He stated, however, that the MDC “will be testing for these diseases before the elk are even transported in Missouri.” One of the major concerns is chronic wasting disease (CWD). The MDC said that their protocols “include testing all elk for chronic wasting disease.” And Hansen explained that they “will be getting the elk from a source that has been thoroughly tested for CWD. In addition, we will do a rectal tissue biopsy for CWD to further insure we do not introduce the disease into Missouri.”
Hansen said overall the MDC’s disease testing protocol is more rigorous than that of any past elk restorations in other states and concludes by confirming the data released by the MDC restoration plan, which is that “there has been no known diseases introduced by these restorations.”
Finally, there are numerous benefits that can come from the reintroduction of elk. The MDC’s website stated, that experience from other states such as Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Kentucky indicate that considerable economic benefits can be generated from elk ecotourism and hunting. The MDC hopes to find partners to help share the cost of the restoration program, so that the economic benefits can flourish in the state.
