By the time calving seasons comes and goes later this spring, West Virginia may have more than 100 elk on the ground.
For now, it’s difficult to predict what the exact numbers will be since cow elk recently transported from Arizona are yet to be examined to determine if they’re pregnant.
“We’ll want to get that information before we release those animals, but until we turn them loose there’s no real concern,” Randy Kelley, West Virginia Department of Natural Resources elk project leader, told the Charleston Gazette-Mail. “The agreement we have with the USDA is that we can’t release the animals until 120 days after the last one went into the pen in Arizona. That puts us into late May.”
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation provided both funding support and volunteer manpower in relocating elk from Kentucky and Arizona to West Virginia.