The National Park Service will be giving "fertility control agents" to Elk in RMNP- eating these elk could cause sterility in humans.

Rocky Mountain National Park to be Laboratory for New Research  

Press Release from Rocky Mountain National Park

Date: December 28, 2007
Contact: Kyle Patterson, 970-586-1363
Contact: Vaughn Baker, 970-586-1200

In January, research will begin in Rocky Mountain National Park to evaluate procedures for testing live elk for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and the effectiveness of a new experimental multi-year fertility control agent. These studies are being done at the park to take advantage of the implementation of the recently announced Rocky Mountain National Park Elk and Vegetation Management Plan.

Over the next several years, in conjunction with the proposed lethal reduction of elk, researchers will conduct studies to evaluate procedures for testing live elk for CWD and the effectiveness of a new experimental multi-year fertility control agent. Currently, there is a live CWD test effective for deer, but CWD diagnosis in live elk has received limited evaluation to date. The disease can only be diagnosed after death in elk. This will be the first time free ranging elk will be tested for CWD. According to Vaughn Baker, Superintendent, "We are excited to have Rocky Mountain National Park serve as a laboratory for the testing of a live test for CWD in elk since testing has only taken place in captive facilities so far. This could also help us determine a better estimate of the CWD prevalence of elk in the park."

                                          Elk lining up for their birth-control injections

In the first year, while capturing up to 120 female elk and testing them for CWD, researchers are planning to administer the fertility control agent (GonaCon) to 60 elk. Researchers are already handling the elk for the CWD test and can learn more about this multi-year agent at the same time. Any elk which tests positive for CWD would be lethally removed from the population, thereby contributing to annual population reduction targets. These targets will be developed each year based on annual population surveys and hunter success outside the park. Over the next three years elk population reduction would gradually remove study elk and the CWD status and pregnancy would be evaluated. Information gained from these studies could contribute to the advancement of a test for CWD in live elk and a fertility control agent that is more logistically feasible than those currently available.

Initial elk captures will take place this winter with monitoring continuing over the next three years. Most of the darting will take place in the Moraine Park, Beaver Meadows and Horseshoe Park areas on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park.

The researchers are advising hunters not to harvest collared elk outside the park so they will be available for study. Additionally, drugs used on the elk take time to be cleared from their body and the hunter may find a tag on the elk informing them the animal should not be consumed.

Participants in the studies include scientists from the Colorado State University Department of Biomedical Sciences, the National Park Service, USDA National Wildlife Research Center, Colorado State University Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology; USDA Agricultural Research Service. The Colorado Division of Wildlife is participating in the study on the live CWD test. 

-RMNP NPS

            Elk hiding out in Estes Park to avoid being tested with Gonacon

What is Gonacon?  I did a quick web search and found mostly propaganda by the drug maker but also this internal study done by the Canadian National Parks in regard to the potential for using this drug on the elk population in Alberta, Canada:

The Canada National Parks Act clearly states: “Maintenance or restoration of ecological integrity, through the protection of natural resources and natural processes, shall be the first priority of the Minister when considering all aspects of the management of parks”.  Introducing chemical birth control into a wild elk population would effectively undermine the CNPA’s mandate to maintain natural processes.

As noted in the Environmental Assessment Report, the Gonacon vaccine does not simply prevent pregnancy in the affected individual, but fundamentally changes the animal’s behaviour such that it will demonstrate no interest in sexual activity. Behaviour modification of wild animals, again, seems in stark opposition to the CNPA’s primary mandate.

In addition to our concerns that the introduction of this vaccine contravenes the mandate of the CNPA, we have serious concerns about the knowledge deficiencies surrounding the vaccine itself, and the confusing and potentially misleading information about the product offered in the EA report. 

•  First, according to a report produced by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in March 2007, the data available for the efficacy and safety of Gonacon has not been adequately peer reviewed, and has been produced in large part by the manufacturers of the product. 

                                                                      

•  Second, the EA report states that Gonacon “has no known side effects,” and that the effects of Gonacon wear off after 2 to 4 years” yet the labeling on the product itself states that “there is a chance that some treated females will become permanently sterile” Has the responsible authority factored this potential effect into its consideration of the proposed vaccination project? 

 • Third, Gonacon is being marketed as a pesticide. We are concerned that wild elk are being treated as a pest rather than an integral component of the ecosystem in which they live. 

•  Fourth, the EA report implies that Gonacon has been approved by the FDA, but the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APIS) states on their website states that “No fertility control agent has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for noninvestigational use on wildlife populations in the United States . . . GonaCon [has] been classified as [an] investigational [drug] that may be used in rigidly controlled research studies.” Are Banff’s elk being used as laboratory rats to test an unapproved product? Are Canada’s national parks and their wildlife populations being used to help forward the approval of this drug? If so, what rationale exists for this process? 

•  Fifth, the cost of the administration of Gonacon to one deer, according to the USDA APIS, ranges from $500 to $1000. How does this cost compare with a straightforward cull of the overabundant animals? Does Gonacon offer the most cost-effective use of Canadian taxpayer dollars to mitigate the problem at hand? 

•  Last, but not least, the USDA APIS states that Gonacon should be used in conjunction with hunting in order to maintain target population numbers. What advantage is there to using Gonacon at all if hunting/a cull offers a more immediate and cost-effective control of elk population sizes? 

written by: 

Dr. Gaby Zezulka-Mailloux

UTSB Research

P.O. Box 1477

Banff

ABT1L 1B4