This elk hasn’t gotten involved in the piercing trend — at least not voluntarily. The green disc in its ear is a marker that lets people know the elk has been drugged. Idaho Department of Fish and Game traps elk annually, and some get corralled and others get shot with a dart and sedated. Those that are drugged get green ear tags. If a hunter later shoots the animal, there’s a phone number on the tag, and he or she can contact F&G and find out when the animal was sedated so they don’t consume meat from an animal that might have drugs remaining in its system. The tag remains long after the sedative has worn off, but F&G said the discs are a safety measure. F&G also attaches radio collars to some elk, which allows biologists to track them. The collar gives off a different signal if it remains stationary for a long time, which alerts F&G the elk has probably died. F&G can recover the collar and try to determine why the elk died.
Roger Phillips / rphillips@idahostatesman.com