Elk farm stirs moratorium debate

A public meeting Monday regarding captive deer, elk and moose farms yielded two surprises: news of a new elk farm in the county and a state agency’s refusal to give county officials any information regarding the new business.

The Minnesota Board of Animal Health denied a request by Carlton County for any information on a new elk farm in Moose Lake Township. The reason for the denial was that the site location is considered proprietary information and protected. Neither the county or township was consulted on the new venture.

County land commissioner Greg Bernu was shocked when he heard the news.

“It’s baffling, everything that’s going on with this supposed farm. You’d think the state would have at least told Fond du Lac,” he said in an interview, referring to a proposal by the Band to expand the state's wild elk numbers and range by moving 100 to 150 wild elk from existing herds in northwest Minnesota to the area of the Fond du Lac Reservation in the future.

Bernu also said legislation that would have required the DNR and the Minnesota Department of Animal Health to work together on CWD issues is in limbo after the legislature failed to pass the omnibus lands bill this spring.

Local sources in western Moose Lake Township told the Pine Knot News there is an elk farm on property owned by Gilbert and Sherry Garcia on the 4800 block of West Road, with fencing and an unknown number of elk.

Two of the elk escaped within the last two weeks, county officials learned from conservation officers with the Department of Natural Resources, which also confirms the existence of the farm. One was shot and a reportedly pregnant female is still at large and may have given birth already. It is unknown if the elk at the farm site had been tested for CWD. The elk that was shot tested negative for CWD.

County assessor Kyle Holmes said the alleged elk farm was news to his department, adding that the Garcias were raising Scottish Highlander cattle when assessors made a review visit. The couple purchased the 73-acre property in 2021 for $330,000, Holmes said.

A search of the Minnesota Elk Breeders Association website showed only one association member in the area: Wolf Creek Elk Ranch in Sturgeon Lake. There is another known elk farm at Lake Venoah south of Carlton.

Public meeting

News of the new elk farm came as the county has been considering a possible one-year moratorium on any new or expanded game farms in the county because of concerns about the spread of chronic wasting disease.The fatal neurological disease affects the cervid family — deer, moose, reindeer, caribou and elk — and causes degeneration in the brain of an infected animal. It is highly contagious and there is no treatment. The purpose of Monday’s meeting was to gather public comment on the proposed moratorium.

While there has been no CWD documented in Carlton County, a positive case in Grand Rapids in March, and issues with a Beltrami County farm last year have the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources looking at a statewide approach to disease surveillance, management, control and education. The St. Louis County board already passed a moratorium on such farms in September 2021, and is considering a permanent ban on captive elk, moose and deer herds.

Three local groups voiced their support for the moratorium during Monday's public meeting; also attending were a number of elk farmers who traveled here to speak against the county’s proposed action.

Randy Willie of the local chapter of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association supported the call for a moratorium because his group wants to protect the local wild deer herd. Craig Sterle of the Izaak Walton League also voiced support, as did the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, represented by wildlife biologist Mike Schrage.

The rest of those testifying at the hearing appeared to be all game farm owners in the Midwest region, who traveled here to participate in the public meeting. Steve Porter reported he had driven more than five hours from southwestern Minnesota to come to the hearing. He said he had 100 deer on his farm, Trophy Whitetail, which offers hunts on a 140-acre preserve. Controversy around CWD has impacted his operation, he said.

Scott Josephson, a veterinarian in southwest Minnesota and a game farm owner, said there is no evidence that eating animals with CWD will transmit the disease to humans.

While there is no evidence of spread to humans yet, CWD is similar to mad cow disease in cattle, which did spread to people in the United Kingdom in the 1990s. CWD is thought to spread from animal to animal through contaminated body fluids and tissue, or by exposure to CWD proteins (prions) that have contaminated the soil, food or water. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, experts believe CWD prions can remain in the environment for a long time, so other animals can contract CWD from the environment even after an infected deer or elk has died. It is also spread more easily between animals that congregate, on a game farm, for example, or wild animals that visit a feeding plot.

Brian Wagner, of Howard Lake in central Minnesota, is in the elk breeding business. He opined that the biggest threat of CWD comes from deer being harvested by nonresident hunters during the Wisconsin deer hunting season, where CWD is more widespread.

Carlton County land commissioner Greg Bernu introduced each of the hearing’s speakers and read a sample of how the county board would proceed if a moratorium were approved and an ordinance finalized. Each speaker was allowed four minutes at the hearing and written material could be submitted.

Bernu went outside the building when heated comments were being exchanged by those who had testified at the hearing. He assured the group that he would contact each of them when the board puts the issue on a future meeting agenda.

When the hearing was over, commissioner Dick Brenner asked if the board could vote on the moratorium as the next order of business. Auditor/treasurer Kevin DeVriendt cautioned that the vote could not be taken because it wasn’t on the agenda. The vote will likely take place at the board’s July 12 meeting, Bernu told the Pine Knot.

In other county news

• Talon Metals of Tamarack has invited Carlton County to tour its mining operation in Marquette, Michigan. Talon is developing plans for a copper-nickel mining operation to extract minerals from Tamarack into the southwest portion of Carlton County.

The copper-nickel deposit in that area is the richest deposit yet found in the North American continent, according to Talon. The board gave land commissioner Greg Bernu and economic development director Mary Finnegan permission to tour the facility.

• Inflation costs are impacting many parts of the programs Carlton County is providing. The vendor that is contracted to provide the jail’s meals got board approval after quotes were received from other vendors. Consolidated Correctional Foodservice, based in Des Moines, Iowa, will continue to provide meals, but the cost will increase $1.33 per meal, from $3.91 to $5.14.

Pine Knot News editor Jana Peterson contributed to this story.