Idaho's elk ranch tragedy: when dozens of elk escaped from his ranch, Rex Rammell thought he faced the task of recovering his herd. Instead, he witnessed the state-sponsored slaughter of his elk.

The Chief Joseph Idaho ranch in eastern Idaho lies in the shadow of both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks amid the unparalleled natural splendor of the Rocky Mountain West. The ranch, owned and operated until recently by veterinarian Rex Rammell, has been home to a herd of hundreds of prized Rocky Mountain elk. In August, a bear, no doubt seeking an easy meal among the ranch's herd, dug under the fence that separated Rammell's elk from the wild elk that roam the Idaho wilderness. Shortly after, nearly 100 elk from Dr. Rammell's herd escaped through the damaged fence.

The story of the escaped elk should have ended with Dr. Rammell recapturing his wayward herd, as would have happened with any other escaped livestock. Instead, the escaped elk became the object of an unprecedented property rights struggle that pitted an embattled rancher against a state government eager to assert its "right" to destroy property at the whim of the governor.

Open Season

According to Idaho state officials, the elk that escaped from the Chief Joseph Idaho ranch represented an unprecedented threat to the health and genetic purity of the wild elk herd living in the region. Most of the elk that escaped were cows and state officials worried that, with the approach of the rut, they would interbreed with wild bull elk. "Time is of the essence, we have to try to get these animals back," Steve Schmidt, regional fish and game director, told the Los Angeles Times in late September. According to Schmidt, Rammell's elk "are a huge unknown to us. Any introduction of new genes might have unknown consequences. The risk is large because we are not only talking about Idaho's elk herd, but now we are also talking about elk who have the potential to mix with Yellowstone Park elk and elk from Wyoming. We have dreaded this day."

Others worried that the escaped elk would spread disease to wild populations. "The higher density that these animals are kept in tends to lead to higher risk of disease," said Barry Reiswig of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming. "You don't know what diseases these animals may have. They are supposed to be tested and the data presented to health authorities, but we know that that may or may not happen."

The escape of Rex Rammell's elk and the unsubstantiated fears the escape engendered among state officials created the perfect opportunity for the state to flex its muscles and assert its dominance over otherwise privately held property. On September 7, Idaho Governor Jim Risch signed an emergency executive order authorizing the destruction of the escaped elk. "There is a crisis facing our elk herds in eastern Idaho. Because of the escape of domestic elk that was not reported as required by law, we now have these farm-raised elk mingling with our wild elk herds," said Risch. "The Executive Order I have signed authorizes the employees of Fish and Game and the Department of Agriculture to immediately harvest these domestic elk. The order will also allow the Fish and Game Commission to put into place emergency rules to authorize licensed hunters and private property owners to take these elk without a tag. This emergency action is being taken to protect our wild elk herds in Idaho. There is a serious risk of disease and an altered gene pool from these domestic elk and I am authorizing these activities to begin at the earliest time possible."

As a result of Governor Risch's action, a full-scale public hunt for the escaped elk was authorized. It couldn't have come at a worse time for Rex Rammell. The rancher said he had already recaptured 40 of the escaped elk by the time Risch called for open season on the elk, and he thinks he'd have been able to capture the rest in as little as one more week. But the arrival of armed state agents and private hunters in the area near the Rammell ranch scattered the already jittery animals. "Everything was very much in control until Risch's executive order, and then it became chaotic," Rammell said. "I've been working my butt off to catch these elk."

Property Rights

The opportunity to bag an elk out of season proved enticing to many big-game hunters, and many traveled from out of state to stalk Rammell's elk. One of those who went to Idaho looking to bag an elk was Don Dunbar. Being a rancher and big-game hunting guide in Wyoming, the opportunity to get one of Rammell's elk initially seemed irresistible.

"I started out with the idea of being able to harvest an elk cheaper because out-of-state permits are really high," Don Dunbar told THE NEW AMERICAN. "I started out thinking that I would be able to get my elk a little cheaper than usual. Then I realized about half way up there, 'wait a minute, whose elk are these?' The more I looked into this, the more disgusted I was and then I saw the contradictions.... The short version is: my conscience started bothering me. I knew I would feel guilty about killing that guy's elk."

Dunbar, who has become a staunch supporter of Rex Rammell, found the issue intriguing and began to research the subject. "I pulled it up on the website of the Idaho Fish and Game and there were some contradictions. [Governor] Risch said that he had insisted on hunter participation ostensibly to get as many people as possible to go out and kill these elk of Rammell's. Their battle cry was 'they've got disease, they're genetically impure, they'll spread genetics that are wrong to the wild elk.' Nothing could be further from the truth. This particular herd, 12 years ago, was purchased right straight from the Yellowstone Park herd. Their genetics are identical. The only difference being that if one of these elk that Doctor Rammell has raised sported a little bit bigger antlers than the other ones, he might breed that one back to a cow to get a calf that would have larger antlers, or trophy antlers. That's what all the hunters like."

On the issue of disease, Dunbar found that the escaped elk were more likely to catch a disease from wild elk than to transmit disease into the wild population. "Every one of the animals that has died of natural causes or was harvested has had their brains tested for chronic wasting disease," Dunbar said. "They've all been negative. They've been vaccinated for tuberculosis which elk are also prone to. None of these elk are diseased nor ever have been. The irony is these elk are subject to the wild elk spreading disease to them."

Under Idaho law, the state can authorize a hunt for escaped elk after seven days, though such a hunt clearly infringes on the property rights of ranchers. "State law is very clear about the authorization of the state to take action when domestic elk herds escape," said Brad Hoaglun, spokesman for Governor Risch. "It's not ambiguous at all, and the governor acted well within his authority." Rammell disagrees. "Domestic elk by Idaho statute have been given absolute property fights," the rancher said at a news conference on September 20. "Also by Idaho statute, domestic elk are classified as livestock. Therefore, with exceptions of their idiosyncrasies--like the high fence--they are to be treated like any other livestock operation regardless of what side of the fence they are on."

State Representative Lenore Barrett sides with Rammell. "We've never had this particular situation before," Barrett told THE NEW AMERICAN, adding that Governor Risch's response was "knee jerk." According to Barrett, "the whole thing was bogus from the get go. The bogus part is the genetics and the disease." The persecution of Rammell really was nothing more than a political ploy to make game farms like Rammell's look bad in order to justify getting rid of them. "In fact," wrote columnist Jim Gerber in the Idaho Falls Post Register, "this is not about a threat to our elk herd. This is about making a politically correct statement that we do not like game farms."

Of Western states, only Idaho and Utah still permit ranches like Dr. Rammell's, and there is pressure on both states to outlaw them. Wyoming officials, in fact, tried to get Idaho to do just that. "I was offended that the Wyoming governor contacted Governor Risch and tried to get Idaho to do away with game farms," Rep. Barrett told THE NEW AMERICAN.

A Tragedy

So far, the only danger posed by the escaped elk has been the danger to Rex Rammell and his family. Dunbar, who says he has befriended the embattled veterinarian, said Rammell has even received threats. In one case, the rancher had a confrontation with a neighbor who was hunting near the ranch. When Rammell told the hunter, a neighbor, that he was hunting too close to the ranch, a brawl erupted. According to Rammell, the man pulled a gun and threatened to kill him. Rammell says he reported the incident, but instead of prosecuting the man who pulled the gun, the police are charging Rammell with a crime. "I've been punched, kicked, had a gun pulled on me, and my elk have been killed," Rammell told THE NEW AMERICAN. "Now I'm being prosecuted."

Just as disheartening, for Rammell, has been the economic damage the state has done to him by its unrestricted hunting for his elk. The unlimited hunting of his elk has cost him, he says, $60,000 or $70,000 so far.

According to Dunbar, one of the state's fish and game officers "shot one of these elk while it was attempting to come back through the gate being herded by Dr. Rammell. He dropped the elk fight in the gate. It was trying to come back and eat the grain, to feed" The loss of another elk was more than Rammell could bear, said Dunbar: "Poor Dr. Rammell, veterinarian, his life's work, sat down on this elk and began to cry. They then arrested him and charged him with obstruction of justice because he wouldn't get off the elk and hauled him into jail."

"They literally shot these elk with grain in their mouths," Rammell said. "They were pretty nasty to me, so I called them every name in the book. I said, 'You're not going take another of my d*** elk in front of me,' and I went and sat on that dead cow." The state-sponsored hunt, which destroyed the property of a law-abiding citizen, will put Rammell out of business. "I'm not going to have any elk when this is over," Rammell said.

See Dr. Rammell's first-person account on page 20.