In kentucky our bucks with EHD would generally be found near a water source, so that seems inconsistent. and also for that many elk to succumb to ehd in such a short timeframe seems strange as well. contaminated water source or supplemental feed, some plant bloom of some sort or a noxous gas release if i really wanted to put on my tin foil hat

http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/herd-of-e...amp;utm_content

Damn those aliens. Last time it was cows.
Now they are on to elk.
Not good at all.

That's too bad

So the Elk hunting on that Ranch is gone for the season, I bet they can put a dent in the Bear numbers tho!

Anyone seen any updates on this story?

I was wondering the same.

From an interview dated Sept 13:

“Elk are a bit more susceptible to EHD than cattle are, but less than deer,” said Dr. Kerry Mower, Wildlife Disease Specialist for New Mexico Department of Game & Fish in a phone interview this week. “It’s based on a subtle physiological difference.”

Unfortunately, the elk had suffered. “They had lain for a period of time and struggled, paddling in the dirt,” Mower said.

The department immediately sent a fixed-wing aircraft and biologists to the site after the discovery and flew concentrically, working outward, looking for sick or distressed animals. The department also checked nearby agricultural operations for signs of fertilizer or chemical spills, but only found small, healthy hay fields. “We’ve seen no mortalities among animals like coyotes and bears that have been feeding on the elk carcasses,” he added.

Since the death of the elk, Mower has visited the area many times on ground level. This week, though, he was preparing to visit the state pathology lab.

Some of the test results have come back. “Based on these results, we have a number of things that we’re thinking about. Initial tests show it’s not anthrax, and the rumen contents showed no plants or seeds known to be poisonous,” reported Mower. The results of the EHD testing will not be back for another week.

Some hunters might wonder if this die-off will affect the quota for elk this year, or reduce their chances of seeing elk in that area of New Mexico. “In that region, elk numbers are high and stable,” said Mower. “They range over the region, and spend their lives in a polygon of about 50 miles.”

Mower is confident that since the news of the die-off, local landowners and hunters will remain vigilant about their observations in that area.

Any body hear

Area 51 is in Nevada.

Had a cousin lose 30 or so head of young heifers (dairy) one spring from eating post oak buds when they first starting to bud out.I know they don't have post oak up there but they have oak brush because I have hunted in it.
Also cattle can get poisoned from eating Johnson grass right after the first heavy frost.

I agree. It could be nitrate poisoning caused by eating vegetation that had been fertilized heavily with nitrogen. If it turns cold suddenly the nitrate level spikes, ala toxicity. Also, could be prussic acid poisoning from Johnson grass or haygrazer that had been drought-stressed and then a rain starts it back up growing. Prussic acid is present for about 7 days after the rain. We lost over 20 cows one time years ago from prussic acid. They knocked down a gate after a rain and they went down within 20 minutes, staggering and seizing. It's a very gut wrenching sight...

yup, extraterrestrials.

Culprit in Mysterious Elk Deaths Found
By By Benjamin Radford, LiveScience Bad Science Columnis
1 hour ago



A hunter stumbled upon a bizarre sight on a 75,000-acre ranch north of Las Vegas, N.M., on Aug. 27: the remains of more than 100 dead elk. Livestock deaths are not unusual, but so many animals dying off, and doing so in what seems to be under 24 hours, was puzzling to scientists.

Officials with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish investigated the mysterious elk deaths and ruled out several possible causes for the elk deaths, including poachers, anthrax, lightning strikes, epizootic hemorrhagic disease (an often-fatal virus known to affect deer and other ruminants), botulism, poisonous plants, malicious poisoning and even some sort of industrial or agricultural accident.

The investigation was hampered by the state of the elk: Scavengers, including bears and vultures, ate most of the bodies, with maggots and blowflies helping to reduce the elk herd to an eerie scattered sea of skeletons in the desert. [Spooky! Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena]

"We couldn't find anything [toxic] in their stomachs and no toxic plants on the landscape," said Kerry Mower, a wildlife disease specialist with New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, as quoted by the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper.

As news spread, some conspiracy-minded folk soon speculated about links to animal mutilations, UFOs or even the dreaded Hispanic vampire el chupacabra.

Pond scum of death

Through science and further testing of elk tissue samples and water samples, the real killer has finally been found: pond scum. Or, more specifically, a neurotoxin produced by one type of blue-green algae that can develop in warm, standing water.

A bloom of this alga can be devastating to wildlife. "In warm weather, blooms of blue-green algae are not uncommon in farm ponds in temperate regions, particularly ponds enriched with fertilizer," according to a classic toxicology reference book, "Casarett and Doull's Toxicology: The Basic Science of Poisons" (McGraw-Hill Professional, 2013). "Under these conditions, one species of alga, Anabaena flos-aquae, produces a neurotoxin, anatoxin-A, which depolarizes and blocks acetylcholine receptors, causing death in animals that drink the pond water. The lethal effects develop rapidly, with death in minutes to hours from respiratory arrest."

In other words, the elk herd suffocated to death, unable to breathe. And the fast-acting toxin explains the animals' strange, sudden deaths. In this case, the algae appeared not in ponds, but in three fiberglass livestock watering tanks not far from where the elk died. The elk also showed signs they had struggled on the ground, further supporting neurotoxin poisoning.

"Based on circumstantial evidence, the most logical explanation for the elk deaths is that on their way back to the forest after feeding in the grassland, the elk drank water from a trough containing toxins created by blue-green algae or cyanobacteria," Mower said in a statement from the Department of Game and Fish.

The algae-produced neurotoxin is similar to curare, the famous toxin found in poison-tipped arrows used by South American Indian tribes. Though anatoxin-A can be deadly to other animals, including dogs and cattle, reports of human deaths are rare. New Mexico ranchers have been advised to sanitize their livestock tanks to prevent further wildlife deaths.

Benjamin Radford, M. Ed., is deputy editor of "Skeptical Inquirer" science magazine and author of six books including "Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries." His Web site is www.BenjaminRadford.com.

Thanks Bob

X2

terrible, that's a lot of elk

Bad events can provide good lessons. Don't know if we that same blue-green algae down here, but we've all seen our share of pond scum in our tanks.......