SEQUIM – Thin the Dungeness elk herd and help the hungry. That’s a suggestion – admittedly one that may rile elk lovers – from Sequim Mayor Walt Schubert.
“There are people starving to death [in Clallam County],” said Schubert.
So he advocates hiring sharpshooters to harvest a few elk and give the meat to the Sequim Food Bank and Salvation Army soup kitchen in Port Angeles.
“I’ve been hesitant to talk about this idea. But there’s a need out there, and I’m noticing it more during the cold weather,” added the mayor, whose wife, Sheri Schubert, helps run the Salvation Army kitchen.
More than 150 people come for weekday meals there, he said.
“There are people out there who are making a choice between having food and buying their medicines,” the mayor said.
“It’s a very serious problem.”
Schubert offered his idea as “part of the solution” to the wildlife dilemma that has driven the city of Sequim over the past year.