By Dick Aldrich

Missouri News Horizon

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's first wild elk herd since before the Civil War is said to be in good shape and on schedule to be brought to what will be its new home range by mid-to-late April.

That's the word given to the Missouri Conservation Commission on Friday by Ron Dent, the elk restoration project coordinator. Forty-nine elk were captured during a joint effort between the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Jan. 5 through 22. Of those original 49, 34 remain.

The majority of the deaths of the elk have come from pneumonia, which can be brought on by the stress of the animal living in a confined environment, Dent said, noting other causes of death included injuries suffered inside the pens.

"These are wild animals, and any time you put wild animals in a confined environment, there is going to be loss. We expected some," he said. The animals are in a three-acre fenced enclosure in western Kentucky where their health is monitored daily by conservation department employees.

By the end of April, the animals will be trucked into a nearly identical facility in the Peck Ranch Conservation Area, north of Fremont, Mo., in northwest Carter County and eastern Shannon County. Once at the facility, they will be tested for disease, fitted with radio tracking collars and released into holding pens, where they will be monitored and tested for another two to three weeks before being released into the wild.

Once released into Peck Ranch, Dent said the elk will inhabit 3,200 acres of forested grasslands developed by the conservation department to provide abundant food, shelter and space. But that doesn't mean all the state's elk will stay on that 3,200 acres of habitat.

Lonnie Hansen, an MDC deer and elk specialist, said the animals will spread out. Plans call for the department to import about 150 elk from Kentucky and Arkansas into Missouri over the next five years with an eventual population of 400-500.

"We think the initial herd will stay in the same general area near the holding pen, with perhaps some of the younger bulls ranging further away," Hanson said. "As we release more elk, we expect their territory to expand and fill up the range."

And it's that filling up of the range that has detractors wary. They fear elk roaming far from the original release point, where there is little nearby agriculture or human population, onto farms and even populated areas where they can damage crops, property and automobiles.

Hanson said the department's "soft release" plan of holding elk in an area for a period of weeks before they are released has proved successful in several states and Canada to keep elk herds concentrated in prepared areas. But Hanson said the department has contingency plans should the elk turn up where they're not welcome.

Those plans include "hazing... trying to chase them out of an area, trapping and relocation, and, in the worst case scenario, shooting."

One place where the elk certainly don't seem welcome is the House Committee on Crime and Public Safety, which earlier this week passed legislation by a 13-to-1 vote that would hold the MDC liable for any damage done by the elk herd. Similar legislation is scheduled for a committee hearing in the Senate in the coming week.

Missouri Farm Bureau Director of State and Local Affairs, Leslie Holloway, said the bill is the next logical step after protests by landowners and local county governments fell on deaf ears.

"I think, they are not taking into account the people who say, 'This might be a good idea, but what about automobile collisions, what about the damage that will be caused to landowners, and potential disease to livestock,'" Holloway said.

In her review of comments sent to the MDC, Holloway said she found letters expressing reservations about the project as well as support.

"I don't know if the commission is not aware of these comments, or why they might not be acknowledging there's still a lot of dissent out there."

Holloway said many Farm Bureau members are contacting their legislators to urge support of the liability legislation.

Commission member Don Bedell acknowledged the plan's detractors in comments encouraging Dent after his presentation to the commission.

"I think that if we show them that we are going to do exactly what we told them that we would do with our protection efforts for everybody from the landowners, to the Capitol, everyone south of here... the tax payers are going to benefit from this," Bedell said.

"We're hearing clearly from the citizens of Missouri that this was the best decision, long term," said commission member William "Chip" McGeehan. "It's an opportunity we're providing the citizens of the state of Missouri to restore a species back that everyone will enjoy for years and years to come."

Pertinent address:

Peck Ranch Conservation Area, Fremont, MO