Seeing deer and other wild animals in Wetzel County is not uncommon. What is uncommon is seeing an elk roaming our hills and valleys. But at least three people in Wetzel County have reported such sightings and their vision wasn’t impaired.

At least one sighting on Nov. 1 near Hundred has been confirmed. “Our guys went out and confirmed there were elk droppings in a field,” said Wildlife Resources Section Chief Curtis Taylor of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. While the DNR personnel did not actually see the elk, they did see photos provided by the person who made the report.

Does this mean elk are moving into the area and a new hunting season could be on the horizon? No. Be clear that it is illegal to harvest any free-ranging elk in West Virginia.

This elk bull and reportedly an elk cow escaped a couple weeks ago from a captive cervid facility (deer and elk farms) in Aleppo, Greene County, Pa. A bull and two cows also escaped from that area in the spring of 2010.

Greene County shares a common border with Marshall, Wetzel, and Monongalia counties in West Virginia. The elk escaped from a captive cervid facility located approximately three miles from the West Virginia-Pennsylvania border, as confirmed by the WVDNR with officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA).

The two other elk bull sightings, which have never been confirmed, were near Wileyville and Endicott. “It looks like he’s making a big loop and we’re hoping he’s going back to Pennsylvania,” said Taylor.

There haven’t been any other elk sighting reported. However Taylor said there was a report of seeing a moose in Pennsylvania near the state line, so they believe it might have actually been a misidentified elk.

This is mating season for elk, so the bull is probably out looking for cows. No elk cow sightings have been reported.

No free-ranging wild elk live within 150 miles of Wetzel County, so the DNR says the elk sighted in Wetzel County is likely the escaped animal from the captive facility in Pennsylvania.

The PDA regulates captive cervid facilities in Pennsylvania. A representative of the agency was unaware if the recent escaped elk were tagged, however Taylor now says it appears the bull was ear-tagged. The WVDNR regulates captive cervid facilities in West Virginia. In West Virginia, all captive cervids in breeding facilities must be ear-tagged, and there are currently no reported elk escapes from any facility in West Virginia.

Contact between escaped captive deer or elk and free-ranging white-tailed deer increases the risk of disease transmission from the captive animals to the native herd, according WVDNR biologists. The movement and/or escape of captive deer and elk increases this risk of contact and are one of the many possible modes of transmission for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) from captive cervids to free-ranging white-tailed deer.

The State of Missouri recently documented CWD in a captive cervid facility. Texas Parks and Wildlife had to euthanize a large captive deer herd after illegal importation of white-tailed deer from a captive facility in Arkansas.

“Monitoring and protecting West Virginia’s deer herd from CWD and other diseases is crucial to West Virginia’s economy and its natural resources,” said WVDNR Director Frank Jezioro. “Deer hunting provides tremendous recreational opportunities for hunters and wildlife viewers, has a large economic impact on its rural communities, and brings in many out-of-state hunters each season to West Virginia.”

WVDNR advises residents in Marshall, Wetzel, and Monongalia counties to contact the Farmington District Office at 304-825-6787 if they see an elk in these counties.