The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Local elk hunting activists are hosting a meeting next Wednesday to present information on elk hoof rot disease.

Dan Cothren, a Wahkiakum County commissioner, has been lobbying the state Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to act on the issue for several years. The disease causes a hoof to become deformed, and the animal subsequently goes lame and dies of starvation or predation. It is widely affecting elk in Cowlitz, Wahkiakum and Pacific counties and is found in other areas.

WDFW biologists have tried to determine the cause of the disease and reached one conclusion. They have also adjusted hunting opportunities with the intention that hunters will harvest the elk that are ill.

Cothren and an ally, Dr. Boone Mora, disagree with the department's conclusions and hunting plans, and Cothren wants to have a community discussion on the issue with hunters before they start their rifle seasons later this month.

Mora will present his understanding of the disease and what he thinks should be done to address it. Mora is retired from a career in public health. During that time, he studied infectious and communicable diseases and did research at the Center for Disease Control.

"Leptosirosis is the cause beyond a shadow of a doubt," he said Tuesday.

Cothren and Mora have presented this information to a regional panel studying the disease for WDFW, but they have felt that department officials have ignored it.

Cothren said he wants hunters to recognize and understand the disease.

"When hunters see it, it will get the discussion going," he said Wednesday.

Cothren and Mora said the department plans to kill infected elk. Department biologists believe the meat from mobile animals will be safe for human consumption and could be donated to food banks.

Mora disagrees.

"From a public health standpoint, I can't understand why they're doing that," he said.

Cothren added that he fears that the department's plan to allow extra hunting pressure will backfire, for hunters will target healthy elk, and they'll be overharvested, leading to a decline in herd health.

The meeting is set for 6 p.m. October 15 at the River Street Meeting Room, Cathlamet.

The public is invited to attend, ask questions, and make comments, Cothren said.