Gunners from the ground and the air shot dead 120
deer and other wildlife this August so that Montana officials could
test the animals for tuberculosis. State veterinarians said tests
were necessary because elk had developed TB at a game farm along
the Bighorn River, north of Hardin, and the disease had been
transmitted to a wild mule deer. The three-day slaughter prompted
two groups, Montana Wildlife Federation and Southeast Montana
Sportsmen, to attack the game-farm industry. “If TB becomes
established in a wild herd, it will never be gotten rid of,”
charged Dave Majors, president of the wildlife federation. “It
would be the end of big game as we know it.” The groups also
criticized the public cost: $58,000 for slaughtering and testing
the wild animals. The wildlife federation wants no new game farms
in Montana. Utah and Wyoming have already banned game farming, but
in Colorado the industry is expanding (HCN, 6/27/94). Results from
the Montana TB test are not in; state officials say they will
repeat the test this fall, when they slaughter another 120
deer.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Elk farming leads to wildlife slaughter.
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