Government science always becomes corrupt science. From Elizabeth Nickson at elizbethnickson.substack.com:
In the case of the clearance of dairy farmers from Point Reyes, California, what is at issue is the case of the elk on that point, and its apparent extinction. These elk are a sub-species, a distinct population segment, an artificial taxonomic rank, which means they are geographically separated. This categorization is largely invented in order to drive people from the land. On my land for instance, the red legged frog in one creek is very slightly distinct from the red legged frog in another creek, 150 meters away.

Elk are hardly threatened as a species. They may be threatened within a range where people build enterprises to feed and house us, but the fact remains that species recover very very fast when said enterprises are shuttered. Rural life, economy, traditions and community, take precedence over the luxury belief of faked extinctions. Culture is far far more fragile than nature.
There are very very few actual extinctions in either mammal, amphibian or birds taxonomies. Under ten.
The following explains how we got the science so very wrong. That mistake, that corruption is a large part of the reason for our current wild economic swings, the sclerotic growth, the impoverishment of the middle class, the impossibility for many to create families and have children, and above all the massive debt in every western economy. We have closed up shop deliberately, this courtesy of the rich kids who need to make a living swanning around the world, destroying “capitalism” and creating their summer camp dreams.