BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A domesticated cow elk did not need to be destroyed because it did not contain red deer genes, members of the Idaho Elk Breeders Association said.

The elk was ordered killed, spayed or shipped out of state in accordance with Idaho law after a Canadian lab told the Idaho Department of Agriculture in November that two tests indicated it was possibly a hybrid animal that contained red deer genes.

But Roy and Kristy Sternes, who own Black Canyon Elk Ranch in Emmett, say a more sophisticated test this month by a lab in New Zealand shows the elk likely did not contain red deer genes.

Red deer grow larger antlers than elk, and hunting ranches in Idaho set prices based on the size of an animal's antlers. Some hunters pay more than $10,000 for especially large trophies.

The cow elk originally belonged to Rex Rammell and was quarantined for tests after up to 160 elk escaped last August from Rammell's Chief Joseph hunting preserve in eastern Idaho near the Wyoming border. The cow was part of a herd he had bred to produce trophy animals for hunters.

The escape prompted Gov. Jim Risch to order an emergency hunt, saying the elk could spread inferior genes or disease to wild herds near Yellowstone National Park.

Rammell said the New Zealand lab test proved his elk did not need to be killed.

"The elk that was ordered to be killed was not a red deer cross," Rammell told The Associated Press. "Now former Gov. Risch and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game have absolutely no justification for what they did."

Rammell sold the cow elk to the Sternes for meat on Dec. 22, the Post Register reported. The Sternes then had a sample of the elk sent to the New Zealand lab for testing.

In an e-mail from AgResearch of New Zealand detailing the test, the cow elk tested as 94 percent elk, which the lab said was a "typical elk." A typical elk, the lab said, is based on a reference population of 300 wild elk from North America.

The lab said it tested 13 DNA markers in the cow elk. That test can reveal a red deer grandparent in 99.5 percent of the elk it tests, and a red deer great-grandparent in 90 percent of the elk it tests, the lab said.

But Risch, now lieutenant governor, said lawmakers needed certainty with lab results.

"We don't need maybe or percentages," he told The Associated Press on Friday. "We need absolute certainty concerning our native elk, and that was the reason I acted on it the way I did."

Rammell said that Idaho officials lied about the positive test.

"The simple fact is the state has been embarrassed over this whole situation," he said. "The Fish and Game killed these animals when it wasn't necessary, and the Department of Agriculture is guilty of providing false information on the test. The whole state should be embarrassed."

But John Chatburn of the Idaho Department of Agriculture said the agency followed strict guidelines in testing the elk. He said that after the first test came back indicating possible red deer genes, the department sent more samples.

"We drew additional samples," he said. "Those samples were sent back to the lab in Canada with different identification numbers, so it was a blind test, and the lab would not know they were testing samples they had already tested. All three came back exactly the same way they had been before."

The exact number of elk that escaped Rammell's ranch is unclear. Rammell said about 120 escaped, though Fish and Game estimate about 160 got out.

Rammell said hunters killed 43 escaped elk, and the cow elk killed because of the red deer tests made 44. Rammell said a 45th elk that escaped died after it was injured while being pushed back toward his ranch.

Rammell said he recaptured 61 elk. Rammell's numbers leave up to 15 elk still unaccounted for.

"I had heard rumors that some hunters had killed some and not reported them," Rammell said. "It's hard to say what happened to those elk."