More Articles showing that Ranchers are not capable of making sound wildlife Management Decisions…. They are asking for Elk to be removed in Multiple States Including California
As many as 1,000 elk once roamed the area, but by the 1800s, after ranchers converted the habitat to grazing land and hunters killed the elk, the native species all but vanished.
In 1874, four years after the last tule elk had been seen, ranch hands discovered a few survivors in a San Joaquin Valley marsh, and bred and cultivated them to try to restore the species. More than 100 years later, in 1978, the park service brought two bulls and eight females to Point Reyes, erected a three-mile fence and confined them to a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Drakes Bay at Tomales Point.
The elk reproduced quickly. After rangers counted 465 in 1997, they began firing contraceptive darts at females from helicopters. Biologists then moved 45 elk from the fenced refuge to an open area.
The free-range elk now live in the wilderness as well as on ranch land. One rancher awoke recently to more than two dozen elk in a field next to her cow pasture.
Source: Roaming Elk at Point Reyes Bedevil Ranchers in California – The New York Times