Maybe nature is better for elk

At least in California. But a survey by the National Park Service revealed that 250 of the tule elk living in a penned-off reserve — nearly half the herd that was re-established in Point Reyes in 1978 — had died between December 2012 and December 2014, most likely from drought-related starvation and thirst. The elk live in a 2,600-acre enclosure at the northern tip of the peninsula.

During the same period, two free-roaming tule elk herds on the south end of the peninsula, outside the reserve, grew in number from 160 to 212.