According to state officials, two domestic herds remain in the "endemic" area near Fort Collins. One keeps its animals inside double fences to guarantee no contact with the wild herds. The other has been found to harbor a single infected animal and is under quarantine by the state Department of Agriculture.
Such drastic measures mean that, at the moment, domesticated herds have a far lower infection rate than the wild population. Indeed, "it is arguably possible that the domestic herds are eradicated of chronic wasting disease," says Jim Miller, director of policy and communications for the state ag department.
Jonathan Castner
Ron Lewis offers "planned" harvests of his animals.
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By comparison, depending on the game-management unit they are in, hunters stalking wild herds have as high as a 15 percent chance of killing an infected animal. Even hunters outside the endemic area have an estimated 1 percent chance of bagging a deer or elk carrying CWD.
"Most biologists I know believe that the disease is spreading from the domesticated herds," Reneau proclaims. But the truth, confirmed in a national conference held in Denver three weeks ago, is that no one really knows how chronic wasting disease spreads -- from domesticated herds to the wild or vice versa. The best researchers can do at the moment is to keep the two separated and see what happens.
Many people have the same view of the domesticated-elk industry as the Colorado Wildlife Defense does: that is, wealthy hunters shooting trophy animals at point-blank range. That certainly goes on. Yet the business more accurately resembles that of raising alpacas and llamas. The majority of a rancher's commerce relies on animals being traded and sold between other owners, who spend thousands of dollars trying to engineer bigger, sturdier animals. At its best, it's no more than what breeders do with their horses. At worst, it is a pyramid scheme built on animals.
In Colorado, chronic wasting disease effectively has quashed that business. As the result of regulations on the verge of being adopted by the state agriculture department, elk and deer cannot be moved between facilities unless they have been observed to be disease-free for up to five years. In fact, the only realistic way an elk can leave the farm these days is gutted and cleaned.
Back in Evergreen, Ron Lewis says he's hoping to sell seven elk this year -- no hunting tag required. What he's offering "isn't even a canned hunt," he admits. "It's a planned harvest. It's far removed from hunting for two days for an elk." Think of it as a "pick your own" elk farm.
So far he's signed no contracts, although he has fielded a few curious calls. But hunting season is just around the corner. For those who want some meat for the freezer, it's two dollars a pound. Bring a sharp knife for dressing. The backhoe is on the house.
