Mysterious Elk Deaths Plague New Mexico

Live Science

By Benjamin Radford, LiveScience's Bad Science Columnist   |   September 10, 2013 10:49am ET

An elk gets a drink from a BLM watering hole.
Credit: Bureau of Land Management Colorado

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Officials with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish are puzzling over the mysterious deaths of more than 100 elk, apparently all within a 24-hour period, in rural New Mexico.
The elk were found Aug. 27 on a 75,000-acre ranch north of the city of Las Vegas.
Livestock deaths, by themselves, are not unusual — there are many things that can fell large animals, including predators, poachers, a natural or man-made toxin, disease, drought, heat, starvation, and even lightning. [Spooky! Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena]
But so far wildlife officials have seemingly ruled out most of these possibilities: The elk weren't shot (nor taken from the area), so it was not poachers. Tests have come back negative for anthrax, a bacteria that exists naturally in the region and can kill large animals. There seems to be no evidence of any heavy pesticide use in the area that might have played a role in the die-off.
Though lightning strikes are not uncommon in the Southwest and in New Mexico specifically, killing over 100 animals at one time would be an incredibly rare event. It might be an as-yet unidentified disease, though killing so many at once — and so quickly — would be very unusual. Another possibility is some sort of contamination of the well or water tanks, but so far no toxins have been identified.


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