$6,000 reward: Elk calf killed with arrow in Cherokee, poaching investigation underway
Six thousand dollars in reward money is up for grabs for information leading to an arrest in an elk poaching investigation out of Cherokee
By Hannah Mackenzie
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CHEROKEE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Six thousand dollars in reward money is up for grabs for information leading to an arrest in an elk poaching investigation out of Cherokee.
On Sunday, Dec. 18, an elk calf was found dead on Echota Church Road. The calf was shot with an arrow, per a statement from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ (EBCI) Natural Resources Office.
According to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, “currently, North Carolina’s elk population is not at a level where hunting meets our management objectives.”
Even if elk hunting was legal in North Carolina, according to the EBCI Natural Resources Office, “elk, like deer, are a protected animal under Cherokee code and cannot be hunted on tribal lands.”
The EBCI Natural Resources Office is now offering $1,000 for information leading to an arrest in the poaching case.
Help Asheville Bears has also offered a reward: $5,000, said HAB founder, Jody Williams. Bringing the total reward money to $6,000.
“Money will make people talk,” Williams said. “All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men and women to do nothing.”
According to Williams, HAB isn’t just focused on protecting bears. They fight for all wildlife. They have previously offered – and paid out – rewards for cases involving bald eagles, alligators and service dogs.
“Who in their right mind would kill a calf? Just a little young one?… There are just evil people out there. That’s what HAB wants to fight against; to catch the wrongdoers because they ruin it for everybody. They ruin it for the hunter who waits all year and does this right; they ruin it for the nature watcher,” Williams said. “Anytime you kill an elk calf, a bear cub, something young, it’s definitely not legal.”
Cherokee’s elk population has become a popular attraction for tourists. Bobby Johns, visiting from Malabar, Florida, was excited to spot his first elk in the wild. However, news of a poaching investigation didn’t sit well with the experienced hunter.
“I don’t disagree with killing [an elk], but they’ve got places to do that,” Johns said. “If we all poached, we’d just go kill what we want, but then you won’t have nothing left. There’s a reason why they section them off to where you can hunt them and not hunt them.”
According to Johns, the way the juvenile elk was killed leaves no room for mistaking the animal.
“If you’re close enough to shoot something with a bow, you can see what it is,” Johns said.
The elk’s body was found near the Tsali Care Center. Mallie Swayney, a receptionist at the nursing home, said he was shocked to hear the news.
“I’m not sure the exact location that it was found, but we do know it was somewhere here on the property,” Swayney said.
Swayney said elk frequent the property – oftentimes stealing a light snack from the birdfeeders.
“Our residents here love seeing them,” Swayney said. “They usually come across the outside parking lot here, and they’ll come over to our side of the building and they walk around the parking lot. It’s really neat to see them.”
If you have information that would aid investigators in this poaching case, call EBCI dispatch at 828-497-4131.
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