If this passes, this will allow the bad guys out there to shoot any animal, regardless if it has hoof rot or not. With tree farm permits in place, it makes the possible abuse even harder to catch. Can you imagine these elk being pushed year round, and during heavy winters. I can, and none of it will be good.
Remember that even though these animals have the disease, cows are still being bred and having calves. Someone mentioned that they "WDFW" shot affected elk in the Toutle, they also did it in the Coweeman. Nothing helped. I hate to see these or any animal suffer, but this thing needs to run it's course. It sucks, but it's reality.
Another post mentioned that the State needs to "come clean" about this. There are some really smart people that have been working on finding the root cause, but have nothing more than some possible scenarios that may have caused this. I'm a firm believer that it's not just (1) thing, it's likely a multitude of different things that came together.
I do agree that the use of these chemicals by the tree farm owners can't be and isn't good, but they are a business, and if the chemical is approved by the government they'll use it. Pretty hard to find those grass filled, blackberry strewn side roads that were always loaded with animals. Or the lush clear-cuts that were magnets for every animal.
If this passes, what few elk we do have rebuilding will be reduced significantly
