After a short delay to study winter ticks found on them, the 27 elk from Elk Island National Park in Alberta, Canada, were released from the holding pen in Cataloochee Valley on April 16. These animals were the second installment of three releases scheduled for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s five-year experimental elk project. Biologists and researchers have speculated about the behavior of this new group of elk. They are wilder than the first release, which came from Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky, and they are not as accustomed to humans.

“At this point we can only speculate. It’s possible that the existing herd will act territorial about the area and force the new arrivals to move elsewhere. The new group may try to displace the current animals. Or the various animals may integrate with little friction,” Kim Delozier GSMNP biologist said in a press release.

Winter ticks were discovered on the Canadian elk March 22 when researchers outfitted them with radio collars. The ticks, which are known from other areas across the Southeast, have never been documented in the GSMNP.

According to Jennifer Murrow the lead field researcher for the Smokies’s elk project, to ensure that no potentially exotic ticks were spread in the park, the new elk were sprayed for winter ticks on April 12. The holding pen will be burned sometime this week.

Seven of the 19 females from Elk Island are pregnant. Murrow said researchers were beginning to visually monitor the Cataloochee herd for pregnancy. Four calves were successfully reared last year.

Big Fork Ridge Trail will remain closed until the elk have dispersed from the holding pen area. Park Service officials remind the public that approaching elk in the fields of Cataloochee is prohibited.