The Elk Arrive From Yellowstone

 

IMPORTATION OF GAME AND BIRDS .

During the past two years the shipping into the state of West Virginia of fifty head of elk and a limited number of ring - necked pheasants and Hungarian partridges marked a new adventure in propagating game in West Virginia . In the month of February 1913 fifty head of elk were secured fom the Government and shipped from Yellowstone National Park to Marlinton , West Virginia . These elk were taken to the park of the Allegheny Sportsmen's Association at Minnehaha Springs where they were confined in an enclosure until they were acclimated and became ac customed to their new surroundings , and were then released in the sur . rounding mountains .

The shipment of the fifty head of elk was made from the Yellowstone National Park to Marlinton without the loss of a single animal . One of these elk was killed while being transported to the park and three head have died from some poisonous weed they had eaten . The two car loads contained forty yearling females and ten males . It is impossible to ap proximate the increase but several young calves have been seen this year .

Prior to making this shipment the Allegheny Sportsmen's Association had purchased and shipped in fifteen head of these animals consisting of fourteen females and one male , which they still have in their park , from which they have raised eight calves .

All of these elk seem to be thriving , only two or three complaints hav ing been made by persons owning farms in the mountains that they have molested their crops .

Reports from other states indicate that the elk when liberated in the mountains are inclined to travel for many miles , and it is likely that they may stray to any of the mountains in West Virginia .

The Legislature of 1913 passed a law protecting elk for a period of fifteen years and making it a felony punishable by a term in the penitentiary to kill one of these animals .