Researchers Find Usinc
Acid Caused Elk Deaths
November 22, 2005 — By Associated Press
RAWLINS, Wyo. — Wyoming wildlife
biologists and federal researchers have identified the chemical
responsible for the death of hundreds of elk in southern Wyoming last
year.
They say usinc acid, a substance found in lichen the elk ate, is
responsible for the deaths of perhaps as many as 600 elk in a die-off
that began in February 2004.
"It started with a couple of coyote hunters finding an elk that was
alive but couldn't get up," said Terry Kreeger, supervisor of veterinary
services at the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish. "Our people went
out and found other elk down. They've look at you, but they couldn't
move. You could pat them on the head."
Wildlife workers eventually found 327 dead elk on the prairie, Game and
Fish biologist Greg Hiatt said. About 80 percent of them here cow elk.
"But we know we didn't find all of the bodies," Hiatt said. "Our best
estimate would be that 500 or 600 died."
The cause of death had baffled scientists at the time. They took blood
samples and ran exhaustive tests and dozens of lab experiments looking
for poisons, toxins, viruses and deadly bacteria but found nothing.
A break came when a Wyoming biologist found an article from 1964 in
which lichen was blamed for sickness and death in cattle and sheep.
"We went back out and collected bags and bags of the lichen, maybe 100
pounds or so," Kreeger said. "We had three captive elk in Jackson Hole
and we brought them to our Laramie lab and began feeding them the
lichen."
Two of those elk ate the lichen and died, one after eight days and one
on the 10th day after feeding began. The third elk refused to eat the
lichen and is still alive in a pasture at the lab.
"Two ate the lichen and died, one didn't eat it and was fine," Kreeger
said. "That was the absolute smoking-gun proof that the lichen killed
the elk."
The elk herd in that area has a range of several hundred square miles
and often crosses into Colorado above Craig and Steamboat Springs.
Because of the drought that lingered into the winter of 2003-2004,
biologists say they believe the elk moved out of their normal winter
range into an area filled with the lichen, which grows on rocks and on
the ground.
Biologists say that about 300 elk in the herd of 800 didn't eat the
lichen and eventually wandered back into their normal range. Hunting
restrictions were put on the herd in the 2004 season and its now
rebounded to its normal size.
Ten of the elk in the herd now wear radio collars. Last winter they
didn't come back into the area where they found the lichen and game and
fish officials say that if the animals try to come back this winter,
they'll chase them out.
Usinc acid was once widely used by bodybuilders to burn fat. The U.S.
Food and Drug Administration banned its use after tests showed it caused
liver damage and some human deaths.
"Usinc acid was killing people long before it started killing elk," said
researcher John Roach with the FDA in Maryland.
Source: Associated Press
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