It wasn’t until August 2010 that the Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries officially approved a motion that would see the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries establish a elk reintroduction program. It began by stocking 71 elk in Buchanan County with help, of course, from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
The state’s goal of growing their elk population to around 400 animals took somewhat of a hit a few months ago after a bull elk carcass was found abandoned with its head removed.
“People who like to enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking come up on these [dead] animals,” Sgt. Jamie Davis with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries told WCYB. “It’s horrible.”
After a pending investigation, three men were eventually charged with the killing of a pair of elk and two calves. Nelson Drummond, Joseph Deel and Derek Deel now all face potential jail-time and up to $25,000 in fines and replacement fees for the animals they illegally killed.
“These are not hunters,” Davis said, “I want the hunters to know. Hunters do not shoot animals and leave them laying. This is definitely poachers.”
With more than a million-dollar investment in reintroducing these majestic animals to Virginia’s landscape, many are hopeful that these individuals will be charged to the full extent of the law. The chair of the Southwest Virginia Coalfield chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Leon Boyd, was integral in getting these elk into the area and does not believe the fines and replacement fees will cover both the cost and the time spent during the reintroduction.
“I’ve never felt that our penalties are stiff enough for folk that will come out here and poach and leave animals laying and waste ’em,” Boyd said. “I don’t know how you put any value to that.”
Currently speaking, replacement fees for an elk are $5,000 or $7,500 for a bull sporting two points or more, despite the original $15,000 per animal cost.
H/T: WCYB
