For more than a decade, elk in northeastern Nevada have been dying every spring for reasons nobody has been able to fully explain. In the hardest-hit herds, wildlife biologists have documented springtime death rates of 10 to 30 percent among GPS-collared female elk — animals that otherwise looked healthy, not starving or sick, right up until they died suddenly.

Researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno and the Nevada Department of Wildlife are now in the middle of a multi-year study trying to find out why. They're looking closely at whether a copper deficiency in the animals' diet is leaving them unable to withstand stresses they'd otherwise shrug off. Field teams have spent weeks in the Bull Run, Independence, and Tuscarora mountains gathering samples and tracking collared elk, and early evidence suggests this same die-off pattern could be turning up in other parts of the state as well.

"We hope our results will directly inform wildlife management decisions and help protect Nevada's elk," according to Brian Folt, the U.S. Geological Survey scientist leading the project.

The current phase of the study only has funding secured through fall 2027. If that funding runs out before researchers pin down a cause, the hardest-hit herds could keep losing up to 30 percent of their female elk every spring, with no plan in place to stop it.

Nevada's elk are a point of pride for hunters, wildlife watchers, and rural communities across the state. Governor Joe Lombardo and the Nevada Legislature have the power to guarantee this research gets whatever funding it needs to finish the job. Sign the petition to demand they fully fund Nevada's elk mortality study through 2027 — before more of the state's elk are lost to a mystery researchers are still racing to solve.