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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Some guidelines to stay safe by the ocean
I
n the last 20 years, we doubt a
year has gone by without some
sort of tragedy on the Oregon and
Southwest Washington coasts.
The latest drownings, Wednesday
afternoon at Rockaway Beach, have
ripped a Colorado family apart.
Samuel Allen, 17, was body board-
ing without a wetsuit and struggled to
get back to the shore, according to the
Coast Guard. His father, Robert Allen,
50, went into the water to assist. His
stepmother lost sight of them and called
911.
Two Coast Guard helicopter crews
arrived. A rescue swimmer pulled an
unresponsive Robert Allen from the
water, provided CPR and transferred
him to emergency medical technicians
on the beach, but he died.
Helicopters and a Coast Guard cutter
‘Just because the sun is shining, it does not mean that
it’s safe to go out into the ocean. That water is cold,
and the risk of potentially fatal hypothermia is real.’
searched through the night for Samuel
Allen, but called off the effort the next
morning.
Mother Nature is so unforgiving.
Just because the sun is shining, it
does not mean that it’s safe to go out
into the ocean. That water is cold, and
the risk of potentially fatal hypothermia
is real.
Logs, riptides and waves are among
the biggest dangers.
We have repeatedly issued warn-
ings about the dangers of logs in the
water and on shore. Their weight when
tossed by a wave can knock a swimmer
unconscious.
The American Red Cross offers
safety tips about rip currents that bear
repeating.
First up is the admonition to only
swim in areas patrolled by lifeguards.
That ought to be obvious, but too often
it isn’t. And never swim alone.
If you are caught in a rip current, stay
calm and don’t fight the current, safety
experts advise. Swim parallel to the
shore until you are out of the current.
And once you are free, turn and swim
toward shore.
The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
is equally vigorous in its warnings, not-
ing that rip currents account for four out
of five of ocean rescues performed by
lifeguards
NOAA warns about shorebreaks, too.
These are ocean conditions that occur
when waves break directly on the shore,
and a significant cause of spinal injuries.
Small or high waves can be equally
as unpredictable and dangerous and typ-
ically form when there is a rapid transi-
tion from deep to shallow water.
Our beaches are among our greatest
natural wonders. They can be fun, a ter-
rific source of pleasure and create last-
ing memories from childhood to adult-
hood. But they also come with dangers,
too. Locals and visitors alike should
heed those warnings and work to stay
safe.
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SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
Looking for a magic bio-bullet
F
or Gearhart residents who have
been threatened by a fearsome
mama elk protecting her calf
or caught amidst the herd, controlling
the elk population isn’t a matter of
if it’s needed, but how it should be
implemented.
Michael Finley, chairman of the Ore-
gon Department Fish and Wildlife Com-
mission, was among those who ventured
to Gearhart this spring as part of a tour
of Department of Fish and Wildlife and
local officials to assess the region’s elk
concerns.
Most of the time, elk
and humans live peace-
ably together. “But
during birthing, calv-
ing or during the rut they
became very protective,”
Finley said. “That’s the
most dangerous time.”
R.J. MARX
Finley, a former
superintendent of Yel-
lowstone National Park, has had his own
interactions with elk, especially during rut
and calving seasons.
“In terms of public safety, I was
chased several times,” Finley said. “I lit-
erally ran behind stone pillars. It’s real.”
Finley introduced a novel solution,
one that he had seen efficiently control
a wild horse population: contraceptive
darting.
“Over time, the population went
down,” he told Gearhart officials and
wildlife commissioners. “It was nonle-
thal, so people didn’t get upset about it.”
Could it work in reducing the elk herd
here?
Contraceptive vaccine
The immunocontraceptive vaccine
called GonaCon is registered by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency for use
on wild and feral female horses, burros,
and white-tailed deer, according to Leg-
islative and Public Affairs Gail Keirn of
the USDA National Wildlife Research
Center. It is not registered for use in elk.
GonaCon works by stimulating pro-
duction of sex hormones. As a result,
females don’t go into heat and males are
less amorous as long as there are suffi-
cient levels of antibodies in the female’s
body.
GonaCon vaccine has been studied
and tested in female elk and found to be
effective, Keirn said. Other contraceptive
agents have been tested in wildlife, but
like GonaCon, they are not registered for
use with elk.
Larry Keller of New West magazine
described a 2008 elk contraceptive darting
at Rocky Mountain Park.
First, the animals had to be shot with
a tranquilizer dart, accurate up to 45
meters or about 148 feet. Their lack of
fear of people made the darting possible.
Once sedated, the elk were rolled on
to their chests so they could breathe eas-
ier, blindfolded, injected with the vaccine
and fitted with a radio telemetry collar
to locate them later. Blood samples were
extracted. Then they were injected with
another drug to reverse the effects of
the tranquilizer. The entire process took
about 40 minutes.
Subsequent studies showed the con-
traceptive worked in completely reducing
pregnancy for one to two years after the
shot was administered.
A daunting process
Herman Biederbeck, biologist of the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wild-
life, hosted a town hall on elk in Gearhart
in 2014 and attended this year’s elk tour
with the wildlife commissioners.
The process of darting and catching a
free-range animal is next to impossible,
he said, even though most of Gearhart’s
elk are “pretty tamed down.”
“We’re not talking about a small
group of five deer,” Biederbeck said.
“This is a herd of 70 or 80 elk. You
wouldn’t necessarily have to get all of
them, but you’d certainly want to get
a high percentage of them to limit the
amount of new calves born and recruited
into the population.”
After darting, animals could become
more wary of people, state wildlife veter-
inarian Colin Gillin said in May.
Studies show results of immunocon-
traceptive vaccines in closed populations
with deer, Gillin said, but effectiveness is
hard to determine.
“Too many animals could come and
go from the herd, and unless all the ani-
mals were marked, it would be impos-
sible to know which ones had been
treated,” he said.
Even if as many as 30 percent were
darted, elk would still cause property dam-
age and potential harm to people, dogs or
cars, he said. “You’re probably not getting
all of them, so you have some you never
catch and they’re still making babies.”
The process may have other adverse
effects. “I’ve never seen anything saying
it affected the animal’s well-being, but I
don’t think they know,” Gillin said.
Lethal culling
Mayor Matt Brown again raised the
prospect of elk contraception at the April
City Council meeting.
Whether it’s the best option in manag-
ing Gearhart’s free-ranging elk population
is something that state and federal officials
are still not sure about.
The National Wildlife Research Ser-
vice says further study is needed to deter-
mine if fertility control can be applied
National Park Service
A park researcher fits a radio collar
on an elk.
effectively to a large free-range elk
population.
State Senate Bill 373, in effect since
January, requires the state’s Fish and
Wildlife Commission to adopt a pilot
program in cities where officials deter-
mine deer “constitute a public nuisance.”
How animals would be taken is not
specified, but the pilot program spec-
ifies that darts or lethal injection are
prohibited.
While “a lot of people aren’t going to
like” lethal removal, it’s quick, effective
and usually less costly than alternatives,
Gillin said. “The harvesting of animals,
removing them from the population, is
something the state is liable to be able to
pull off.”
While a contraceptive vaccine
remains a “pretty intriguing concept,” the
opportunity for things to go wrong are
pretty high, he said.
“Really think it through before you
throw a lot of money at this,” he said.
“Because you want it to work.”
R.J. Marx is The Daily Astorian’s South
County reporter and editor of the Seaside
Signal and Cannon Beach Gazette.