spectr17
12-12-2002, 07:22 PM
Ranchers promising CWD-rule showdown
State wildlife, ag panels consider elk restrictions
By Theo Stein, Denver Post Environment Writer
Thursday, December 12, 2002 - The future of elk ranching in Colorado now rests with a pair of state commissions as they begin examining tough new chronic wasting disease regulations that ranchers say will put them out of business.
Defiant elk ranchers promise a bitter fight, even if that means a showdown with Gov. Bill Owens.
"We've been wronged," said Montrose rancher Jerry Perkins, who works as a banker during the day. "A lot of guys have been put out of business and our whole industry given a black eye for something we didn't deserve."
For the last two years, the industry has been battered by an outbreak of chronic wasting disease that took hold in an elk ranch in northeastern Colorado. It has swept up more than two dozen ranchers who bought elk from the infected ranch or who agreed to a federal buyout and left the business.
Now, state agriculture and wildlife agencies are moving to implement new regulations that further restrict the trade of live animals and impose expensive new safety requirements on ranching operations.
"The fact of the matter is that it's going to hurt, one way or another," said Jim Miller, the state Agriculture Department's policy director. "This industry is going to have to consider a new set of realities, and new costs of doing business."
Ranchers have long feuded with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, which they blamed for failing to stem the disease's spread since it was first identified in northeastern Colorado four decades ago. Until now, however, ranchers had an ally in the state Agriculture Department.
But on Wednesday, the Agriculture Department's Brand Board, which regulates the industry, took up new regulations that would limit ranchers' ability to buy and sell elk within the state or across state lines. Many biologists suspect such sales amplified the spread of the disease across the continental midsection in the 1990s. The rules would also require expensive double-fencing and other environmental controls for new ranches.
Today in Grand Junction, the state Wildlife Commission takes up similar regulations.
Elk ranchers are preparing to sue.
"The elk breeders have orally informed us they feel they have no other alternative," Miller said. "If that's the case, then maybe it's best that the court decides."
"We think what they're proposing won't do anything but hurt the industry," said Ron Walker, president of the Colorado Elk Breeders.
The discovery of almost 50 cases of CWD in wild deer and elk west of the Continental Divide this year shows the disease has already spread across the state, ranchers said, rendering many of the new regulations obsolete.
"There's a big distinction between protecting wildlife and regulating us out of business," Perkins said. "And I flatly refuse to go out of business. Bill Owens doesn't control the legal system. We'll take this all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to."
The rules considered by the Brand Board on Wednesday closely followed the principles of an Owens' brokered agreement between the Division of Wildlife and the Agriculture Department. But agriculture officials did insert two exemptions that already have caught the attention of the wildlife agency.
One would allow the transport of elk that had only been monitored for chronic wasting disease for three years, instead of five, if veterinarians from both agencies approved. Another would give the state veterinarian the discretion to order any elk ranch with at least one positive case to slaughter its herd, instead of requiring it.
State wildlife, ag panels consider elk restrictions
By Theo Stein, Denver Post Environment Writer
Thursday, December 12, 2002 - The future of elk ranching in Colorado now rests with a pair of state commissions as they begin examining tough new chronic wasting disease regulations that ranchers say will put them out of business.
Defiant elk ranchers promise a bitter fight, even if that means a showdown with Gov. Bill Owens.
"We've been wronged," said Montrose rancher Jerry Perkins, who works as a banker during the day. "A lot of guys have been put out of business and our whole industry given a black eye for something we didn't deserve."
For the last two years, the industry has been battered by an outbreak of chronic wasting disease that took hold in an elk ranch in northeastern Colorado. It has swept up more than two dozen ranchers who bought elk from the infected ranch or who agreed to a federal buyout and left the business.
Now, state agriculture and wildlife agencies are moving to implement new regulations that further restrict the trade of live animals and impose expensive new safety requirements on ranching operations.
"The fact of the matter is that it's going to hurt, one way or another," said Jim Miller, the state Agriculture Department's policy director. "This industry is going to have to consider a new set of realities, and new costs of doing business."
Ranchers have long feuded with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, which they blamed for failing to stem the disease's spread since it was first identified in northeastern Colorado four decades ago. Until now, however, ranchers had an ally in the state Agriculture Department.
But on Wednesday, the Agriculture Department's Brand Board, which regulates the industry, took up new regulations that would limit ranchers' ability to buy and sell elk within the state or across state lines. Many biologists suspect such sales amplified the spread of the disease across the continental midsection in the 1990s. The rules would also require expensive double-fencing and other environmental controls for new ranches.
Today in Grand Junction, the state Wildlife Commission takes up similar regulations.
Elk ranchers are preparing to sue.
"The elk breeders have orally informed us they feel they have no other alternative," Miller said. "If that's the case, then maybe it's best that the court decides."
"We think what they're proposing won't do anything but hurt the industry," said Ron Walker, president of the Colorado Elk Breeders.
The discovery of almost 50 cases of CWD in wild deer and elk west of the Continental Divide this year shows the disease has already spread across the state, ranchers said, rendering many of the new regulations obsolete.
"There's a big distinction between protecting wildlife and regulating us out of business," Perkins said. "And I flatly refuse to go out of business. Bill Owens doesn't control the legal system. We'll take this all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to."
The rules considered by the Brand Board on Wednesday closely followed the principles of an Owens' brokered agreement between the Division of Wildlife and the Agriculture Department. But agriculture officials did insert two exemptions that already have caught the attention of the wildlife agency.
One would allow the transport of elk that had only been monitored for chronic wasting disease for three years, instead of five, if veterinarians from both agencies approved. Another would give the state veterinarian the discretion to order any elk ranch with at least one positive case to slaughter its herd, instead of requiring it.