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Hunters deliver hay to National Elk Refuge
JACKSON, Wyo. (AP)--A group of hunters who support feeding elk to help them survive the winter delivered 55 tons of hay to the National Elk Refuge. The hunters came from around the region for Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife Hay Day. Last December, the group donated 60 tons of hay to the refuge to protest the death of elk on the refuge during the winter of 2005-2006. But Bob Wharff, executive director of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, said this year's Hay Day, Dec. 1, wasn't a protest. "The reason we did it this year was to show continued support for feeding," he said. Refuge officials have said the rate of elk deaths on the refuge was normal over the winter of 2005-2006. Refuge manager Steve Kallin said, in the keynote speech for Saturday's event that the 30-year refuge mortality rate has been around half a percent. "That's incredibly low," he said. Kallin outlined a plan for hunters to reduce the refuge elk herd from 7,500 to 5,000 and the refuge bison herd from 1,200 to 500. He said both measures would reduce the amount that elk and bison rely on supplemental feeding during the winter. Members of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife said they didn't object to plans to reduce elk numbers on the refuge because the plans focus on overpopulated elk from Grand Teton National Park, just north of the refuge. "The refuge ultimately understood that there's only one segment of the herd that is overpopulated," said Steve Meadows, the group's Teton County representative. Biologists and wildlife managers say that supplemental feeding crowds elk and bison and exacerbates diseases, like brucellosis. Brucellosis can cause animals to lose their calves and can spread to cattle. Kallin said refuge officials would use this year's hay donation to lure bison away from elk feeding areas, the same thing they did with last year's hay. Date: 12/12/07
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