Hunters discuss elk hoof rot disease

Dr. Boone Mora spoke to a roomful of hunters concerned about the health of the local elk population, whose numbers are being reduced by hoof rot disease.

Mora, who had a career in public health and studied infections and communicable diseases for the Center for Disease Control believes the hoof rot is being caused by leptospirosis.

Leptospirosis is transmitted by the urine of an infected animal. According to Mora, elk will choose to lie down in urine soaked areas and wallow in puddles filled with urine. They walk in water and wetted soil saturated by urine from many different mammals.

Unfortunately for Mora, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will not give credence to his theory and state officials have thwarted his attempts to acquire a kit to conduct tests. Fortunately, Mora has been able to track down a place that will sell him a kit for $325.

“I wish the state would stop joining in attempts to block research that would culture live leptospira and permit completion of Koch’s postulates, an old gold standard for proving causality,” Mora said. “It seems that they have gone so political on this thing as opposed to scientific. They’ve worked on this for six years and come up with nothing.”

Mora admits that studying leptospira is challenging because it is so versatile. He rattled off several examples of illnesses that had been misdiagnosed and turned out to be leptospirosis.

“The hoof rot is not caused by the toxins of leptospira,” he went on to say. “One of the first symptoms of leptospirosis is extreme pain in the forelegs. Therefore the elk don’t walk as much, they don’t abrade their hooves, and the hooves overgrow.”

With a kit in hand, Mora will need fresh urine from an elk that has just been killed. So fresh that he needs to be there to collect the specimen. If he can prove that leptospirosis is present, perhaps state officials will begin to take him seriously.

Several hunters offered to take Mora with them the next time they go hunting.

In the meantime, Mora hopes to start a citizens group for clean elk. There will be no fees.

“Part of the problem here is the politics,” Mora said. “Maybe a citizens group would send a message.”

Anyone interested in joining the citizens group may contact Mora at 360-795-8716 for more information.