| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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Article 1/27/04 |
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Disease
Outbreak Intensifies Debate on Feeding of Elk
By JIM ROBBINS
New York Times
January 27, 2004
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JACKSON,
Wyoming- A yellow bulldozer rumbles over a snow-covered
valley at the base of the cloud-shrouded Teton Mountains,
the blade scraping a furrow in the deep snow. A large
wagon pulled by the dozer drops a steady stream of green
alfalfa pellets.
This is what thousands of elk and hundreds of bison here
on the National Elk Refuge have been waiting for, and
as the chow wagon approaches they get rambunctious. They
charge toward the wagon, the bison snorting steam as they
gallop. The dun-colored elk cry and mew as they stand
back and wait for the bison to eat.
The feeding of elk and bison helps them to live through
long, harsh winters, but it has long been controversial.
In many places, including Montana, feeding ungulates is
illegal in part because of potential diseases. In recent
weeks, criticism of the feeding program at the refuge
and at 22 other sites where Wyoming conducts feeding programs
has intensified because of an outbreak of a bovine disease
called brucellosis. Brucellosis is a bacterial disease
that can spread through a cattle herd, causing cows to
abort young spontaneously.
It also occurs in elk, and by concentrating the animals,
the feedings enhance the mechanism for transmitting the
disease, said Dr. Thomas Roffe, a veterinarian and the
regional chief of wildlife health for the federal Fish
and Wildlife Service. Among groups of elk in the area
that do not receive the feedings, brucellosis occurs at
a rate of 1 to 4 percent, said Dr. Roffe, whose agency
oversees the elk refuge. Rates of infection among the
fed animals average nearly 20 percent and rise as high
as 50 percent. Primarily, brucellosis is transmitted when
animals come in contact with fetuses aborted by the herd.
These are two of only three herds in the nation known
to have the disease. Its origin not known, but the cattle
were grazing adjacent to land where the state fed the
elk. The state declared an emergency that requires all
cows to be tested and restricts exporting out of state.
One Wyoming man, who was not identified, also came down
with the disease, though it appears unrelated to the outbreak
here. In humans the disease is called undulant fever and
causes fever, joint pain and other flulike symptoms. It
can be caught by drinking unpasteurized milk from an infected
animal or by eating poorly cooked beef. If diagnosed early
it can be treated with antibiotics. The Yellowstone area
is the United States' last reservoir of bovine brucellosis,
which also occurs in bison, Dr. Roffe said. His agency
and park officials are experimenting with vaccines shot
by rifle. Wildlife experts also suspect that brucellosis
is killing bighorn sheep.
Despite the outbreak, Dr. Jim Logan, the Wyoming state
veterinarian, said that if the feedings were abruptly
halted, the elk would go to cattle feeding grounds and
mingle with cattle, exposing them to greater risk of contracting
the disease. He said he favored a careful phasing out
of the feedings over several years. "We may be better
off as a state if we didn't feed animals" on the
feeding grounds, said Jim Magagna, executive vice president
of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. "But given
the elk population, we have to have them."
Other experts, including Dr. Roffe, warn that if feeding
is not ended, brucellosis may be only the beginning. A
bigger fear is chronic wasting disease, which has been
found in wild animals less than 200 miles away. If it
hits the feeding grounds it could spread rapidly and is
100 percent fatal.
Dr. Roffe said feeding any wildlife, including birds,
was poor policy and could threaten human health. The concentration
of birds in Asia, for example, is behind the spread of
avian flu there, he said. Critics say the elk continue
to be fed, against the advice of experts, only because
of the power of the livestock industry. "Ranchers
are king of the West," said Meredith Taylor, who
works with an environmental group called the Wyoming Outdoor
Council to restore natural wildlife migration patterns.
"They oppose free-ranging wildlife because of competition
for feed."
But this huge herd of elk is a cash crop for this tourist
town next to the refuge of nearly 25,000 acres. Elk images
adorn mugs, T-shirts and motel signs. Each spring, local
Boy Scouts pick up tons of dropped antlers and auction
them to aphrodisiac manufacturers and artists. More than
15,000 people take sleigh rides each winter to see the
refuge's animals. The well-fed elk, now numbering 6,000
to 7,000, also draw hunters.
"Without feeding, what habitat we have would limit
the herd to 1,200 to 1,500 head," said Charlie Petersen,
a hunting outfitter in Jackson who has guided hunters
for nearly 50 years. "That wouldn't sustain the hunting
industry."
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