Otter orders stop to elk hunt

The Thursday order spares the lives -- for now -- of about 35 animals in a Bingham County game preserve

By PHIL DAVIDSON
pdavidson@postregister.com

BOISE -- Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has temporarily commuted the sentences of roughly 35 wild elk,

deer and moose targeted for execution.

Otter ordered a cease-fire on the Idaho Department of Fish and Game's effort to kill the wildlife trapped inside Rulon Jones' Bingham County hunting preserve.

The order was issued Thursday, three days after Fish and Game officials were unable to slaughter the beasts despite spending a day stalking them along with two of Jones' employees.

Fish and Game officials believe the bulk of the wild animals were trapped on the property in the fall, when Jones, a former NFL lineman, put up a fence for his 2,000-acre ranch. Others might have gotten into the preserve through snowdrifts.

The animals have mingled with Jones' domesticated animals, raising the risk that they could spread disease to the state's prized wild herds or pollute their genetic makeup. Fish and Game policy says wild animals can't be released back to nature once they've mixed with domestic elk, said Mark Gamblin, regional supervisor of Fish and Game's Pocatello office.

And, he said, a landowner can't hold wild animals captive.

Unless the wild beats are quarantined, or possibly sold to a domestic rancher, there isn't much else the department can do other than kill them, Gamblin said.

"That really presents a dilemma," he said of the governor's order.

Otter's spokesman, Mark Warbis, said the governor has merely asked Fish and Game officials to see what can be done to save the animals and kill them only as a last resort.

"We don't want to fall back on killing them without completely exploring the options," he said.

Otter has met with Fish and Game Director Cal Groen to hash out ideas, said Gamblin, who added that details should emerge later in the week.

Warbis said Jones, who declined to comment Monday, has also been involved in the discussions.

Reporter Phil Davidson can be reached at 336-0145.