Hoof Rot?

[BOWHUNTER45]

thats a damn shame ....guess it would not be to hard to catch up to this herd ...

[RadSav]

I'm seeing it all the way to Pe Ell and Raymond.  It just makes me sick to my stomach.  I just sent the video to my friend at the US Geological survey who specializes in elk.  Will be interesting to see what he has to say.  From his response to my picture last year I don't think he believed it is as big a problem as it is.  I think he will believe me now!  Thank you for posting the video.  Even if I now have to go buy some Maalox.

[bucklucky]

Thats a sad video.

[meathacker]

I'm seeing it all the way to Pe Ell and Raymond.  It just makes me sick to my stomach.  I just sent the video to my friend at the US Geological survey who specializes in elk.  Will be interesting to see what he has to say.  From his response to my picture last year I don't think he believed it is as big a problem as it is.  I think he will believe me now!  Thank you for posting the video.  Even if I now have to go buy some Maalox.

please let me know what he says.  I have also sent this to fish and wildlife.  It blows my mind on how this has become such a problem and nobody has any answers.

[RadSav]

I can't even find two biologists that agree on the cause.

[180-GRAIN]

That sucks I hate to see animals suffer! I think they are kinda trying to take care of the problem now. They gave out a ton of cow tags last year and again this year. I dont think many hunters out there are going to be selective on shooting just elk with hoof rot so I guess giving out all the tags is there solution to the problem. Atleast a few of the elk with the problem will be taken. I know I ended up taking a young cow last year that had it in her back feet in the margaret unit, and I will be honest I took the first elk I had a good shot at. I wasnt looking to see if she had hoof rot.

[AKBowman]

That is really really sad to see. It did look as if virtually every elk in that herd had it. Giving out a bunch of permits is only going toile things worse those elk are being pushed around until January with those cow permits. No time to recover from such a debilitating disease if you are constantly on the run.

[meathacker]

This is the response i got from Tom Toman, Director of Conservation at Rocky Mt Elk Foundation

"

No one has any answers to this problem right now. We have been tracking it since 2007 and have just approved some funds to get three world experts in Hoof Rot to come to WA and look at situation and work with WDFW. The WDFW and the WA AG state vet have looked into it and are trying to determine which of the 40 hoof rots this might be. After that is answered, they will have to determine what can be done about it. You can't corral a bunch of wild elk and run them through a dipping trough every week for a month. These darn diseases in wildlife are a bit more complicated since they are wild and we are limited in how they can be handled. We have never seen hoof rot to this extent anywhere in elk in North America. Let's hope we can get those folk to fly in to help us. Thanks for your interest.
Best regards!

[meathacker]

Meeting with Gary Chittim from King 5 this morning about this.  Hopefully this will bring more light to the problem.  I feel that the future of the Roosevelt Elk in Western Washington is in jeopardy. If we can make more people aware of whats happening maybe WDFW will get this figured out before this spreads any farther than it already has.

[Dr. Death]

Good luck with this meathacker. It is a very sad deal...saw my 1st hoof rot last year in Ryderwood, we though it had been shot, but then I realized what it was, was bleeding and everything. My son and I tried to get it, followed it for hours and finally gave us the slip in some jack firs...Seems to really be spreading...

[nontypical176]

This is a reply to a letter a friend of mine sent to the RMEF about hoof rot.



"I have been following this since 2008 and wrote a briefing paper for our staff in early 2009.  We know there are more than 40 varieties of hoof rot in the world but it perplexes everyone why this one persists and even is getting much worse.  I was on the phone for an hour yesterday with WA DFW discussing this disease and what the solutions might be.  They are interested in hosting an expert panel of scientists to meet with some of their department managers, some state veterinarians and with Oregon DFW folks to see if it is prevalent there as well.  Three experts have been identified and will be invited to Vancouver to the workshop.  The most prominent expert lives in Australia and two other experts are at Colorado State University.  RMEF was requested to help sponsor the workshop and help pay travel expenses for these experts so that folks can put their heads together to better identify the problem and look for solutions.  If these were cattle, the animals would be slaughtered as there is no known treatment that is effective.  Of course the stakes are really different in wild populations since you cannot test each animal easily or maybe at all.  WDFW has taken elk in this condition to try to identify if the problem is nutritional shortfalls or some other causal factor.  They are getting hundred of phone calls this year compared to dozens in years past and their field personnel all say they are observing more animals this year than before.  It is frustrating for sure, but there seems to be no definitive answer at this time.  We will work with the WDFW, the WA state veterinarians and with experts to determine if there is a causal factor and if so how to deal with it in wild animals.  Sorry I don't have a clear straight forward answer but no one has seen this disease and this infection rate before."


Maybe the letters and phone calls are starting to work.  Hoping they can find some answers.  Glad the RMEF got involved also.  Another thing that I see around my place....all the elk are now infected, but none of the deer have it.
 

[Rainier10]

Forgive me if this has been brought up but is there a chance that the timber companies are spraying a new chemical that is having an effect on the elk?

[JimmyHoffa]

Forgive me if this has been brought up but is there a chance that the timber companies are spraying a new chemical that is having an effect on the elk?

I've wondered this too, whether it be the chemical itself being harmful directly to elk or if it prevents certain browse from growing in the area that elk need? 

I had read before that they have noticed a lack of certain minerals in elk that were affected and that the region lacked those minerals also. 

[meathacker]

King 5 will have a story about this tonight at 630. been up in the woods with them all day. Make sure to tune in! Hopefully this will help make a difference

[nontypical176]

The problem in my area started down low near houses and farms.  It is spreading into timber company lands, but the worst areas and first hit were not the timber companies.  There has never been a study done on a living elk according to the WDFW (no funds they say). 

I wonder if King 5 will post a link to the story...can't watch it tonight.  Maybe someone will post a link if they find one.

So glad to see people, the news and the RMEF getting involved.  I hope we haven't waited too long and they find the only way to stop it is to kill infected elk.   Someone needs to find an answer soon, it is spreading at an allarming rate.  Never seen it 5 years ago where I live, but they all have it now and I have seen it in all corners of the Coweeman unit to some extent.  Once you've seen a herd of 30+ all limping, you start to look for limping elk and bad hooves wherever you go.