Elk and deer are the unfortunate animals of choice for these operations, though some deal in other species. Photographs published last year in the Albuquerque Tribune showed blood spurting from young elks' severed stumps. Because success is guaranteed by game-farm owners, hunters will pay top dollar. Humane concerns aside and the fact canned hunts are anathema to ethical principles, the scariest aspect of game farms is the direct threat they pose to native wildlife. In Colorado, more than 400 elk have escaped from game ranches, alarming wildlife officials about genetic pollution of wild elk.
Captive wildlife are conduits of diseases that threaten to decimate the West's native wildlife.
Captives also may carry tuberculosis and brucellosis that can spread to other wild species as well as domestic animals such as cows. So far, CWD has been found in wild animals only in Colorado and Wyoming. But already doctors in Oklahoma are asking whether two fatal cases of a rare human malady similar to mad cow disease in that state were the result of eating CWD-infected deer meat. Both human victims were hunters. The full extent of the risk is unknown.