CHEYENNE, Wyo., Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A herd of elk in Jackson, Wyo., is being endangered by a government feeding system initially aimed at protecting the animals, a lawsuit alleges.
A coalition of environmental groups alleges in a federal lawsuit the government program in Jackson violates the charter regulations of the Fish and Wildlife Service, The New York Times said Wednesday.
The suit alleges the program, initially created by Jackson residents and taken over by the federal government in 1912, has placed the elk at risk of chronic wasting disease. This risk violates a service charter to create healthy refuge populations with biological integrity.
The disease was found in an elk near Jackson last year as the neural disorder continues to spread throughout Wyoming, the Times reported.
Dr. Thomas J. Roffe, Fish and Wildlife Service chief of wildlife health, has recognized the risk of the 100 percent deadly animal disease facing the Jackson herd.
"If you tried to design a system that would magnify wildlife diseases, you couldn't do much better than what we're doing now," Roffe told the Times. "We want to have our cake and eat it, too -- lots of elk, but not have them range around on private land."
