Syracuse.com - Deer hunters shoot two elk that escaped from private zoo/wildlife area near Weedsport

[HuntingNY-News]

A total of 14 Roosevelt elk at a private, zoo/wildlife area in the town of Brutus escaped sometime last weekend when a bull elk in rut walked through a fence. The land off Clinton Road just outside of the village of Weedsport is owned by Glenn Donnelly, the former president of DIRT Motorsports

Elaine Thompson photoA Roosevelt elk peers out toward a hiking trail in the Hoh Rain Forest in the Olympic National Park, Wash.

Seen an elk this week in the wilds of Cayuga County? You weren't imagining things.

A total of 14 Roosevelt elk at a private, zoo/wildlife area in the town of Brutus escaped sometime last weekend when a bull elk in rut walked through a fence. The land off Clinton Road just outside of the village of Weedsport is owned by Glenn Donnelly, the former president of DIRT Motorsports.

In two instances — one on Saturday and the other on Sunday —deer hunters happened upon the huge beasts and shot them.

On Saturday, James J. Parent Jr., of Elbridge, bagged the 800-plus pound, bull elk with his scoped, 12-gauge shotgun. He waited until the following day before notifying the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

In the other incident, Floyd L. Bertollini, of Jordan, shot an equally as big female elk (cow) with his 12-gauge shotgun. He called the DEC as soon as he realized his mistake. Donnelly’s son, Patrick, came to the scene and finished off the wounded animal himself.

Donnelly’s staff were able to herd back several of the cows, but several others had to be shot. As of Tuesday afternoon, “a couple” were still at large, he said.

Roosevelt elk can be found in Pacific coastal rain forests and mountains, as well as the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains. They also live in Alaska. They are the largest of North American elk. Adult bulls average 875 pounds and females average 700 pounds.

Mature bulls average 5 feet tall at the shoulder and 8 to 9 feet in length. The antlers of Roosevelt elk, which average 4 feet in length, are thick and have vertical points, with a distinctive crown or three-point tip.

Donnelly said he got the elk more than 10 years ago from the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse because they “just didn’t have enough room.” He keeps them in a specially designed 12-acre lot with an 8-foot fence.

The herd as of last weekend consisted of the one bull and 13 cows. The cows usually followed the bull and most likely would have come back in a day or two. Now the remaining cows are all disoriented and confused, he said.

“Sunday, we had a whole fleet of guys out there in ATVs trying to bring them back in. We kept asking, ‘Did anyone see the bull? Did anyone see the bull?’ “ Donnelly said. “Then we got a call from the DEC, ‘We got your bull ... in the back of guy’s pickup truck and it’s dead.’”

Donnelly said the meat from the bull was kept in the back of a pickup truck after it was shot and it spoiled with Sunday’s warm weather and had to be disposed of. The meat from the cow shot Sunday was fed to a white Siberian tiger that Donnelly also keeps on site. He has about a dozen different species of exotic cats.

This isn’t the first time animals have escaped from Donnelly’s place. In August 2010, a serval — a spotted, medium-sized wild cat native to Africa — got away and was hit by a vehicle on the state Thruway near the Weedsport exit.

There are no wild elk in this state. The only place one can legally hunt them here is at a licensed, private hunting preserve. If a hunter spots one in the wild, he or she should assume it’s an escapee, according to Capt. Woody Erickson of the DEC.

Both hunters in Brutus said they mistook the elk they shot for a deer, but could face losing their hunting license privileges, Erickson said. It is the responsibility of a hunter to properly identify a target. The DEC is investigating and no tickets have been issued at this point in either case.

One hunter two years ago in Tioga County was ticketed for mistakeningly shooting a domestic bull that he mistook for a deer.

Anyone seeing Donnelly’s missing elk should call 1-877-457-5680.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog