Visitors with hoof rot and stuff

[nontypical176]

Elk showed up at my house today.  They don’t come through too often, its 5 acre suburbia and dogs keep em pushed out, but these low snow levels got em looking for feed.  Sad to see the herd looking so bad.  Hoof rot throughout, and it affects the yearlings as well as the adults.  They are feeding on the grass around my house, I guess 30 plus or so, buggers won’t hold still long enough to get a head count.  I tried to figure out exactly how many have hoof rot, but I got dizzy.  It was easier to try find one that wasn’t limping and then look at its hooves.  I’ve got a lump in my throat so big I can’t hardly swallow.

[nontypical176]

 Mostly young elk in the herd, a couple spikes and 3 or 4 large cows and the rest are 1 to 2 year old elk if I had to guess, but not many mature animals.  Been watchin them at less than 50 yards for several hours now.   Had to belly crawl out to my pickup and dig the camera out of my fishing vest and then dry the camera, before I could get a picture.  The elk are so spooky that I don’t want to go after any better shots.  I threw out some apples and a handful of bananas, got that idea from another user on this site.  They are workin their way around there now.  MMmmmmm apples is mighty good eatin.   Bananas ain’t too bad neither.  They would act a little spooked of the fruit, but one time I seen an elk eat an apple and 2 others lick her face. 

[frostman]

Not a good look.
Generally speaking, where are you and these elk at?

[nontypical176]

They were so gentle and caring of eachother it was pretty neat to watch.  Of course I don’t have a picture of that moment.  They were so close I was hanging my arm out windows and my rear slider and I would only look at the screne on my crappy cam to take the pictures.  I wanted to get a picture of one of the spike bulls, he was a complete retard and needs to be eliminated from the herd before he has a chance to spawn, but he had his dang head stuffed under my deck eatin the grass I was too lazy to weed eat.  Cool to see the elk, but so sad for all the hoof rot.  
I am kicking myself in the ars for not having some good feed out there for them right now.  Anybody got a suggestion for Cowlitz county elk with severe hoof rot?    Also I heard a rumor from a friend of a friend that his friend was driving around with a warden/biologist? looking for elk with hoof rot in the area.  Who knows…….but man I can’t get the images out of my head.  A couple times 2 or 3 elk would go haulin ass or jump around for a short spurt, some of the others would want to join in but it was just too painful.  I seen a cow take a knee 3 different times.  She didn’t even have a hoof on her leg, and she was still trying to play a little.  One big cow, I could actually see the agony in her face.  She caught me camera in hand, gave me a snort, but she didn’t spook, just kinda wandered away from the house always looking at me with so much pain in her face….I quit taking pictures and just let them feed after that.  

[nontypical176]

I'm in the lower coweeman drainage, and the hoof rot here is getting worse.  Near as I could tell even the elk that looked ok probably weren't.  I seen a calf hopping around like an idiot kid with one mangled front hoof and one in the back. It was visibly painful in every bounce, but what do they do....Elk are just awesome and tuffer than sh**.  In all kinds of misery and just keep on keepin on 30 strong in this herd......My last picture is pretty cool. 

[zackmioli]

the hoof rot problem is very sad. thanks for sharing the pictures and story of these elk.

[Bean Counter]

I think I'd send away my dog a few months before elk season 

Great pics. I hope a healthy, legal one comes your way and the herd does better overall.

[ICEMAN]

Absolutely horrible to see.

[Killmore]

Having 250 head of livestock, I can tell you that it's not hoof rot. Hoof rot is the swelling of the tissue between the hoofs. When our
cattle get feet like that it's more related  to the diet there eating.

[grundy53]

Having 250 head of livestock, I can tell you that it's not hoof rot. Hoof rot is the swelling of the tissue between the hoofs. When our
cattle get feet like that it's more related  to the diet there eating.

It's a different kind of "hoof rot" its supposedly a selenium deficiency. Put out a selenium block and it should help. But who knows....

[nontypical176]

Last summer I could see the herd was in trouble.  Well over half the elk were affected, and still calving, so I tried to contact the WDFW several times.  I was looking to share what I had seen, and possibly gain some knowledge on how to help, but after all the phone calls and emails were ignored it seems they have better things to do.  Now 7 months later I'm not sure even 1 elk was free of the hoof rot.  The WDFW websight has some crappy outdated information on hoof rot, at least from what I could find.  This herd is well known in the area and maybe someone else is in contact with the WDFW.

Several locals shot elk out of the herd last season, and all but one had hoof rot, from what I've heard through friends, neighbors, the store and stuff.  Its a hard bunch to hunt unless they stumble onto your property, but when they do come on to your place its pretty up close, so there are plenty of locals that know the condition of the elk.

I have 2 different salt blocks out, not sure if one has selenium or not, all but one elk completely ignored the salt licks.  They did lick on a black burnt stump for a while.  They left sometime last night, and I hope that when we meet again they are looking better than they do now.  Gut Wrenching to watch  I promise y'all.

[Practical Approach]

I have also heard that it could be related to a copper and selenium deficiency.  Not sure what has changed in the environment?  Is there not as much of these components in the foods that make up their diets or are has something changed biologically that isn't allowing them to absorb the copper and selenium? 

[KimberRich]

Sad to see but good for you for at least trying to contact someone and get the info out there.  Hope they improve. 

[wsucowboy]

sad to see.

[THINK_N_ELK]

Pulled this off a WDFW web page from a study that was done.  Kind of a long read but interesting.  It was a joint study between WDFW and WSU.



  Severe overgrowth and deformity of the hooves in the Cowlitz river basin Roosevelt elk population has been sporadically noted in individual animals for the last decade. However, recently the incidence of affected elk and the severity of cases has seemingly increased to involve most herds surveyed within this study area, affecting up to as many as 90% of elk in some herds. Cases of overgrown and deformed hooves similar to this have been occasionally recorded throughout the US in populations of wild deer, moose, and bighorn sheep. The cause of hoof deformity in these other herds and species has never been definitively elucidated, though several predisposing factors have been suggested. These factors include severe copper deficiency, selenium toxicosis, chronic ingestion of high carbohydrate diets, chronic ingestion of a predominantly alfalfa diet (with or without recurrent laminitis), exposure to infectious viruses such as epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) or blue tongue virus (BTV), and change of behavior and habitat that include limited ambulation or ambulation on soft soils which may prevent normal hoof wear.

     In our study population we found that hoof deformity affected either the fore or rear pair of limbs and did not appear to be restricted to particular age or sex classes, indicating that even severe lesions could develop rapidly enough to affect animals under one year of age. Lesions in the study animals varied markedly from extensive overgrowth and deformity of an otherwise intact hoof, to complete sloughing or breakage of abnormal hooves and hoof walls. Additionally, some hooves had extensive necrotizing and cavitating lesions of the sole or hoof wall. Focal hoof necrosis could be indicative of local infection, or weakness or abnormality in the keratin or underlying lamina that would focally devitalize the hoof or predispose more fragile foci to trauma and infection. In the majority of cases, the keratin of the hoof wall and sole was thick, well organized, and very hard, similar to hoof keratin in unaffected hooves of the same animal, or the hooves of normal elk collected from the study site. Histologically, keratin of the hoof wall and sole and the germinal epithelium of the coronet was well organized and no significant primary lesions were detected, making the likelihood of a developmental or genetic keratin disorder less likely.

     In all cases soft tissue lesions, which would be most indicative of a primary infectious foot rot, were lacking or minimal. Bacterial culture of affected hooves was positive for Dichelobacter nodosus, a known cause of infectious foot rot in domestic livestock; however this environmental pathogen can be readily isolated from soil and would be an anticipated opportunistic pathogen in any foot condition. Therefore, a primary foot rot should be interpreted with some degree of caution.

     Most animals had some degree of soft tissue and lamellar perivasculitis that was predominantly lymphocytic-plasmacytic. Though this lesion may be due to distal limb inflammation and chronic trauma, causes of vasculopathy are considered. Of particular interest are causes of vasculopathy that may compromise normal peripheral blood flow, induce aberrant neovascularization in the hoof or lamellae, or result in random thrombosis of these structures and consequently alter normal hoof growth and integrity. Causes of vasculopathy considered are recurrent laminitis, EHD, BTV, and ergot or fescue toxicity. Serology and PCR to determine viral exposure or current viremia in the study elk are currently pending.
     
     Possibly our most important finding in this study is marked copper and selenium deficiency in this population of elk. Though certainly this area has been historically deprived of copper and selenium, perhaps changes in habitat, encroachment of farmed fields and livestock, emergence of new plant populations, significant dietary changes, or behavioral changes, may have favored the recent development of severe hoof lesions. Copper in particular is known to be vitally important for  proper bone and keratin development. A. Flynn described in1977, populations of Alaskan moose with similar severely overgrowth of hooves. The cause of this lesion, described as “slipper foot”, was not definitively determined; however, affected moose were found to be significantly deficient in copper. Copper deficiency in domestic cattle is known to be associated with an increased incidence of foot rot, heel cracks, and sole abscesses. Whether copper deficiency alone can induce or predispose hoof deformity in the Cowlitz basin elk, or if copper deficiency is one contributor to a multi-factorial problem, remains yet to be determined.

    A more extensive understanding of the habitat and the principal diet of these herds, as well as the movement within the home range, is necessary to completely understand the dynamics of nutritional deficiencies, toxicities, systemic infections, potential exposures to toxic fungi, and to determine what influence movement, soil substrate, or behavioral changes might play in the pathogenesis of these hoof lesions.