Soon it Will Be Moving Day
If you’re a bear in Cataloochee Valley better start packing your bags for a trip to Tennessee. Again this year the National Park plans to capture the bears in the valley and move them out of the area to help the small elk heard and protect the new born calves. The elk population is still small but any plans to bring in additional elk from other parts of the country is still on hold because of CWD.
If you’re a bear fan don’t worry it will take a little bit of time but the bears will find their way home.
Interesting article about how the biologists capture and collar& tag the elk so they can track them for research.
When the collarless calf stopped to graze in a grassy field, Yarkovich took aim with a tranquilizer gun and darted it in the hind leg from 45 yards. After three minutes, the calf collapsed on the frost-covered ground.
“She’s not completely under,” DeLozier said. “We’ll take her temperature, pulse and respiration. The main thing is to keep her head up so the discharge from her mouth doesn’t drain into her lungs.”
It has been almost six years since elk were reintroduced in Cataloochee Valley, on the North Carolina side of the Smokies near Waynesville. From those 52 elk released in 2001 and 2002, the park’s herd has grown to approximately 75 animals.
Biologists say at least 100 elk are needed before the park’s herd can withstand such setbacks as disease and poaching and be self-sustaining.
[...] at Moose Droppings has a story of how and why the bear in North Carolina are being moved again to protect the slowly growing elk [...]
Pingback by Black Bear Blog » Blog Archive » Bear Being Transported Out Of North Carolina — April 26, 2007 @ 11:09 am
[...] at Moose Droppings has a story of how and why the bear in North Carolina are being moved again to protect the slowly growing elk [...]
Pingback by Bear Being Transported Out Of North Carolina : North Carolina Hunting Today — December 4, 2007 @ 1:31 pm