Bill would give WSU lead role on elk hoof disease

Legislation directing Washington State University involvement in monitoring and assessing elk hoof disease in Southwest Washington got solid support on Wednesday before the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

In Olympia, the committee had a public hearing on 2SSB 5474, which directs the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine to establish an elk monitoring system in Southwest Washington and to assess causes and potential solutions for elk hoof disease.

The college must work collaboratively with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state veterinarian and tribes, according to the bill. WSU must provide updates to the Legislature and state Fish and Wildlife Commission at least annually.

The measure has passed the state Senate with a 49-0 vote.

“We feel this is a very positive approach to get a more analytical-type review of the hoof rot issue and take more aggressive action,’’ Mark Smith, owner of Eco Park along the upper North Fork of the Toutle River, told the committee.

Observations of elk with deformed, broken, or missing hooves have increased dramatically in Southwest Washington in the the past decade.

The Cowlitz River valley is the epicenter of observations of ailing elk, but sightings also have been reported by the public in the Willapa Hills, Mount St. Helens, south Olympic Peninsula and in the Skagit River valley, plus northern Oregon.

Tests conducted by scientists in the United States and abroad show these abnormalities are strongly associated with treponeme bacteria, known to cause digital dermatitis in cattle, sheep and goats.

Smith said the state Department of Fish and Wildlife has limited money and resources to combat elk hoof disease.

“The only thing we’ve really been able to do in the past eight years is watch it spread,” Smith said.

Bruce Barnes of Vancouver, founder of Mount St. Helens Rescue, said WSU is equipped better with the expertise to address hoof disease.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife has an Elk Hoof Disease Public Working Group that has not met in almost two years, Barnes said.

“In my opinion, they’ve failed miserably,” he said. “We’ve lost two-thirds of our elk herd.”

Tom Davis of the Washington Farm Bureau also supported the legislation.

Davis said he recently got an email from a Skagit County resident who observed “four to five elk limpers.”

Anis Aoude, of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said his agency supports the measure and additional financing to WSU to help wildlife mangers deal with the issue.

The committee set the vote on the measure for later.