The reintroduction of Elk in North Carolina has been, despite a lot of good intentions, close to a failure. Instead of increasing since their reintroduction in 2001 the population has remained about the same and has become unbalanced as the bull numbers are outgrowing cows.
Elk are dieing from parasites as well as predators are killing a lot of the young. The park has taken steps to move some of the bears out of the area and hopefully they’ll be gone long enough to let the calves get big enough to avoid the bears and coyotes. The herd needs additional cows but because of CWD the state has a moratorium on importing elk.
At least one other elk reintroduction project seems to have had more success than efforts in North Carolina.
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point introduced 25 elk near the state’s Clam Lake 10 years ago. The herd consisted of three bulls, 11 cows and 11 young elk taken from a herd near Gaylord, Mich.
Today, the herd has 120 animals.
“It was a success right from the start,” said Tim Ginnett, assistant professor of wildlife at the university. “Our herd has done fabulously well even in the midst of a recovering wolf population.”
The news that 10 calves have been born is good news and hopefully they will all make it. The ratio of bulls to cows in this year’s birth will be interesting to hear; hopefully more then 50% will be cows.
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