WILDLIFE -- Neither state nor tribal officials returned telephone queries today regarding the Saturday-Sunday translocation of Nevada pronghorns to the Yakama Indian Reservation.

As I reported in my Monday blog, pronghorns were extirpated from this region in the 1800s.

I called two Washington Fish and Wildlife Department big-game program managers today and they did not respond.  Wildlife biologists with the Yakima Tribe said they were awaiting authority to speak from the tribal council.

The Washington Cattlemen's Association was much quicker to say they are concerned about the potential for transmitting disease. Blood samples apparently were drawn from the animals in Nevada, but the pronghorns were released in Central Washington Saturday and Sunday before the samples could be analysed.

It appears the excitement of bringing back the sage-country speedsters is not unanimous.

Stay tuned.