Category Archives: cervids

More Cervid Contraception: GonaCon and Elk

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Rocky Mountain National Park was the site of a study of the effectiveness of GonaCon, a wildlife contraceptive in elk. The park has quite an elk problem. With no predators to worry about, the elk eat, wander through nearby Estes Park, stroll the golf course, eat some more, and make lots of baby elk. They have altered the park’s ecosystem by not allowing willows and aspens to grow.

Culling is the foundation of the park’s plan to reduce the herd, but of course, that bothers some people. A lot. This excellent story in New West has all the details on the elk in the park and the GonaCon study.

If you are unaware or need a refresher of why wildlife managers would welcome an effective and inexpensive wildlife contraceptive, here are a few articles.  New Jersey Hills/The Progress. (Utah) Standard-Examiner. The New York Times.  (And yes, that’s a little heavy on the New Jersey deer, but no place does suburban deer quite like NJ.)

Read more in New West.

Photo: A bull elk, I don’t know where. Probably not in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Credit: Gary Zahm, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service

Deer Contraception in Maryland

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Maryland has approved the use of the contraceptive GonaCon for white-tailed deer. It is the first state to do so. The deer must be sedated so they can be injected with the drug, and EPA regulations require the treated deer to be tagged. (Hunters are warned not to eat the meat of the treated deer.) The estimated cost of treating each deer is $1,000. Because of the expense, the treatment is not expected to be used often, and then only in suburban and urban areas under special circumstances.

The Cumberland (Md.) Times-News reported the story. NBC News in Washington has a news brief based on the story.

The USDA has a fact sheet on GonaCon. It is listed as the producer of the drug in the EPA’s fact sheet. The USDA fact sheet notes: “In 2006, the regulatory authority for contraceptives for wildlife and feral animals was moved from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).” The USDA fact sheet has links to further information on GonaCon.

GonaCon can be used in other mammals, and has been tested in ground squirrels in California.

Photo: Steve Hillebrand, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife

Artery worm prevalent in Wyoming moose

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Forty-two percent of the moose in Wyoming are infected with carotid artery worm, known as “sore head” in sheep, and as Elaeophora schneideri scientifically. When the worm, actually a nematode, was found in the Wyoming moose that also had the state’s first case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a moose, state biologists investigated further.

They tested 287 moose that were either killed by hunters or found dead, and found 42 percent of them were infected with carotid artery worm. In some parts of the state, the rate is as high as 50 percent.

Carotid artery worm was first found in mule deer and in domestic sheep in New Mexico. It does not seem to create any symptoms in the mule deer. The worm is transmitted from animal to animal by horseflies (tabanid flies). The symptoms in moose and elk include the animal’s nose and ears rotting away, and deformed antlers. The nematode can kill the moose before these symptoms occur. Carotid artery worm infections have been mistaken for CWD.

Carotid artery worm has been found in wild animals in 18 states in the South, Midwest, and West. A similar nematodes infect animals in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Wyoming has been experiencing a decline in moose numbers, but it’s not known what role the carotid artery worm infection rate is playing.

Piece together the story through this news article in the Jackson Hole News & Guide,  this species account for moose from the Wyoming Game & Fish Department (PDF), and this sample abstract from an upcoming moose conference in Wyoming.

For background on the nematode, focusing on the infection of mule deer in Nebraska, try this open access article from The Journal of Wildlife Diseases.

Non-native tree kills moose in Alaska

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US Fish & Wildlife Service

Three moose in Anchorage, Alaska are dead after eating buds, branches or berries from European bird cherry trees (Prunus padus). In one case a moose ate branches that had been pruned in the fall and stored under a deck. One of the moose also ate a toxic amount of Japanese yew branches.

European bird cherry, also known as mayday tree, May Day tree, or hagberry, is considered invasive along streams in both Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska. The tree is native to northern Europe and closely resembles native chokecherry trees. In the two Alaskan cities, European bird cherry is changing the mix of plant species in riverside ecosystems. Typically, moose do not browse the tree, allowing the non-native tree to dominate the native species that the moose do eat. The tree has also naturalized in Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ontario, and New Brunswick

No one is sure why the moose ate the trees now, when they usually don’t, or why the trees proved so toxic, since the level of toxins in the tree can vary. The only unusual event noted was a mid-winter thaw.

For the full story in the Anchorage Daily News, click here.

For a PDF backgrounder on Prunus padus from the National Park Service, including lots of photos of flowers and fruits, click here, and get ready to download the file.

CWD found in Minnesota

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Chronic wasting disease (CWD) may have been found for the first time in Minnesota’s wild deer herd.

A preliminary screening test strongly indicates that a deer harvested by a hunter last November near Pine Island in southeast Minnesota had Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). An official confirmation is expected by next week.

Read the rest of this story, from WDIO, a Duluth-based TV station.
Photo Credit: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources