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Article 12/06/04 |
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| Test
confirm northeast elk brucellosis-free
By Dustin Bleizeffer
Casper Star-Tribune
12/06/04
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GILLETTE
-- The results are in, and the findings are official:
Elk in northeast Wyoming are brucellosis-free.
That determination clears all free-ranging elk outside
the Yellowstone ecosystem in Wyoming, according to the
Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Hunters collected more than 130 separate blood samples
from the Rochelle Hills elk herd in southern Campbell
County, and none indicated the presence of brucellosis
-- the disease that causes cattle to abort.
"With that, we're just where we want to be. We can
say we're brucellosis-free," said Warren Mischke,
Sheridan area information specialist for Game and Fish.
The testing was launched after two Campbell County cows
tested positive for brucellosis in July, but investigators
could find no link or reasonable explanation for the alleged
infections. Veterinarian officials in Wyoming and in South
Dakota -- where the lab tests were conducted -- now agree
the lab was in error.
For most folks here, the determination that elk in northeast
Wyoming are brucellosis-free comes as no surprise. Yet
it's still a huge relief to livestock producers and sportsmen
alike.
If brucellosis had been detected in the free-ranging elk
population, it likely would have placed increased scrutiny
on livestock producers statewide and forced wildlife managers
to dramatically decrease elk populations.
"The implications for agriculture were much more
severe than the implications for sportsmen," said
Mark Winland, president of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation.
"I don't think anybody wants to see brucellosis.
And honestly, I don't think we will see brucellosis in
free-ranging elk."
Had the results indicated otherwise, wildlife and agriculture
officials would have been forced to expand their brucellosis
efforts from a relatively isolated area in western Wyoming
to the entire state. Winland said a statewide brucellosis
situation might have the potential to upset the relationship
between sportsmen and livestock producers -- an important
accord nobody wants to see deteriorate.
"I think we dodged a bullet in that respect,"
Winland said.
Game and Fish Director Terry Cleveland said that until
his agency was able to confirm the long-held notion that
brucellosis is not present among free-ranging elk, it
was faced with major elk management changes.
"I think there would be significant pressure to address
elk populations in northeast Wyoming," Cleveland
said. "There would have been a lot less tolerance
for elk on private land. We would probably have had to
strongly consider dramatic reductions in elk populations."
Livestock and veterinary officials conducted repeat testing
of the original Campbell County cattle herd suspected
of brucellosis and on more than 2,000 neighboring cattle.
But that testing yielded no signs of brucellosis. So the
investigation turned to the only other plausible link:
elk.
Several private landowners in southern Campbell County
cooperated with Wyoming wildlife officials to set up a
special depredation hunt of 100 elk in hunt area 123 to
target the Rochelle Hills herd. Wildlife managers needed
at least 130 good blood samples from elk in the area in
order to make a statistically defensible determination.
They were able to get enough samples from regularly scheduled
elk hunts and the depredation hunt.
Officials were prepared to net-gun elk by helicopter to
make up a sampling shortfall, but the successful sampling
campaign among hunters helped save some money. Game and
Fish had access to up to $50,000 from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture to pay for net-gunning, but the agency
won't have to tap the fund, Mischke said.
Mischke credited landowners in the area for their extreme
cooperation.
"We did not want to stress the elk in the wintertime,"
Mischke said.
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