[umas911]

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - As the Wyoming countryside begins to thaw, biologists and game wardens are canvassing the rugged terrain to solve an alarming mystery: Why have hundreds of elk slumped to the ground and died in less than two months?


http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/st.../20040321/1732827031.htm&sc=1501&floc=NW_5-L8

 

[Hamilton Reef]

Lichen the culprit in Wyo. elk die-off

A lichen is to blame for the poisoning deaths of close to 300 elk in Wyoming's southern Red Desert this winter, state officials said Sunday.
The announcement ends a grim mystery that had baffled wildlife researchers across the continent since early February. But it raises new and potentially troubling challenges for biologists who will be studying the episode in the coming years.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E53%7E2033503,00.html