SALEM, Ore. — Oregon authorities are enlisting hunters and other outdoors types in the fight against a disease hurting the region’s elk.
The Statesmen Journal reports that the state Department of Fish and Wildlife is asking people who spend time in the woods to watch for and report limping elk. Those animals could be suffering from hoof disease, a bacterial infection that causes severe lameness.
Elk with the disease have deformed, overgrown or broken hooves and other abnormalities.
Department veterinarians say last year’s public sightings were helpful in tracking the disease.
Fish and Wildlife veterinary staffers are also asking hunters who kill infected elk to save the hooves so the department can analyze them.
Hoof disease does not affect the meat of the elk and is not a risk to human health.
