Domesticating Elk in a Russian National Park

Abstract

In the Pechero-Ilych National Park, at the foot of the Ural Mountains in northern European Russia, where a 3-foot snow cover may lie for seven months of the year, experiments in the domestication of elk have been going on for some years. In this article the Director of the Park and his senior research worker describe the wildlife of this large Park, covering 2,758 square miles, and the history of the domesticated elk herd, and estimate the herd's value in the economy of the taiga. The Park gets its name from two rivers which form the western and southern boundaries. A third river, the Kozhim forms the northern boundary, and the Urals the eastern. © 1964, T.M.C. Asser Press. All rights reserved.