Point Reyes Frees 315 Tule Elk After 46 Years of Containment

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Tule Elk is a subspecies of the Elk community, their habitat is California , and they went almost extinct in the 19th century, a cattle rancher preserved the last group in his ranch, and thus they kept living.

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Tule elk inhabited the grasslands at Point Reyes, thus in the 1970s this group of animals were reintroduced to Tomales Point, Point Reyes National Seashore.

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The initial enclosure for the animal at Tomales Point was 2600 acres, whose area increased to 2900 acres in 2019 by the National Park Services (NPS).

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This enclosure had a barrier of 2.2 mile long fence, which became an icon of the Tule Elk confinement at Tomales Point.

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The species saw exponential growth in the early 90s, but then on there was fluctuation seeing a steep loss in their number during the droughts in the years 2012 to 2015 and many other factors.

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However, Tule Elk population showed a positive growth since the covid years, that is 2020 onwards, with 2023 count saying presence of over three hundred elks.

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Recently, Point Reyes National Seashore has decided on a new management plan for Tomales Point, that involves removing the fence enclosure of the Tule Elk community, and this plan would give the animals a better chance of survival due to their expanded range.

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The plan would also involve removal of supplemental water systems, installing a wildlife friendly boundary, updating Tomales Point management and so on.

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This has however received mixed reaction from agricultural stakeholders like the Straus Family Creamery who showed concerns regarding the change.

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