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The article focuses on closing of backcountry area of Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota from January 17-February 17, 2023 which will help the park staff in managing and reducing presence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Elk population.

Focuses on the spread of the chronic wasting disease through populations of deer and elk in some states in the U.S. Relation of the disease to mad cow, a fatal brain-wasting ailment; List of states with positive cases of the disease including Colorado, Wisconsin and Wyoming; Recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention for hunters not to eat meat from deer, elk and moose that look sick.

The article reports that an acid in the lichen has led to the mysterious deaths of more than 300 elk in southern Wyoming since early February of 2003. Early on, experts speculated that a toxic plant could be the reason for deteriorating health of elk. Autopsies of affected elk found a lichen called parmelia in their digestive systems. The biologists gathered lichens from then area where the elk were found and fed to captive elk at a research center. The wildlife experts said usnic acid in the plant appeared to have broken down the animals' muscle tissue.