Sick bull elk put down near Powell

Posted 1/15/19

A 6x6 bull elk was dispatched by wildlife managers on Friday after being found in poor condition outside of Powell.

Earlier in the week, the bull was pursued by Game Warden Chris Queen, but it …

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Sick bull elk put down near Powell

Posted

A 6x6 bull elk was dispatched by wildlife managers on Friday after being found in poor condition outside of Powell.

Earlier in the week, the bull was pursued by Game Warden Chris Queen, but it was able to escape capture. The elk had traveled as far east as Road 9 near Riverside Drive on Thursday, Queen said.

Then on Friday afternoon, a railroad employee discovered the bull along the BNSF tracks between roads 11 and 12, south of U.S. Highway 14-A and about a mile and a half west of Powell. The bull refused to move despite the human presence.

“Earlier in the day, it had run off on us,” said Jordan Winter, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s access coordinator in Cody. However, when he and Game Warden Supervisor Scott Werbelow caught up with the bull again by the tracks, “it wasn’t able to get up at that point,” Winter said.

The bull was put down.

Game and Fish personnel found the elk was infected with psoroptic mange, said Tara Hodges, a Cody-area information and education officer for the department.

The disease is also known as scabies. Scabies results in hair, fluid, and heat loss and ear canal occlusions. Secondary infections include decreased weight gain and mortality in domestic and wild animals. Scabies has been reported in many mammals including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, and black bears.

“Scabies isn’t rare, but it seems to be more common in higher density herds like those found in the [National Elk Refuge],” said Eric Maichak, habitat biologist for the Game and Fish.

Bulls become worn down during the fall rut and their immune system becomes compromised, Maichak said. Cows can get scabies as well, but it’s less noticeable. Bulls infested with the mites often have a lot of hair loss on the shoulders, he said.

Elk have been more common in fields close to Powell, especially in heavy winters and as populations rise, Maichak said. Some have crossed the Badger Basin highway — Wyo. 294 — and at times have been reported along the Shoshone River near the Willwood.

However, access coordinator Winter called the location of the mature bull outside of Powell “rare.”

Winter said it was a tough year for elk hunters in Area 54 — near and around Heart Mountain. With a lack of heavy snow, elk weren’t driven into the lower parts of the region.

“It wasn’t as easy as in recent years,” he said.

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