Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
HESPERUS, Colo. (AP) — As Fort Lewis College prepares to take over 6,300 acres of state land in La Plata County a controversial elk research operation is moving out.
The Durango Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1Z8LUJE ) that Fort Lewis College is expected to take over the state land at Old Fort, south of Hesperus, starting July 1 and has said it will not extend the lease for ElkQuest, an elk hunting and chronic wasting disease research operation.
Owner Barry Dyar established the Elk Research Institute in 2003 with the goal of breeding an animal resistant to chronic wasting disease, an illness that causes slow starvation in elk, deer and moose. Over the years he has been accused of using the research as a front for an expensive private hunting ground.
___
Information from: Durango Herald, http://www.durangoherald.com
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
