| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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Article 5/10/05 |
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| Brucellosis
in Madison elk causing concern
By Scott McMillion, Bozeman Daily Chronicle
5/10/05 |
Brucellosis
in Madison Valley elk herds has not risen to an alarming
level, but it's more prevalent than it ever has been and
the situation needs a good hard look, state and federal
scientists said in Bozeman Monday.
Small studies conducted this winter show that 6.9 percent
of the elk in the Madison elk management unit tested positive
for exposure to brucellosis.
"The data say we ought to be raising our eyebrows
and looking deeper," said Kurt Alt, regional wildlife
biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife
and Parks.
He spent most of Monday in a meeting with veterinarians
and biologists trying to figure out details, like how
many animals need to be tested and where those animals
travel over the course of the seasons.
Small numbers of elk in the Madison Valley have consistently
tested positive for brucellosis for years. The disease
attracts both government and public attention because,
if it spreads to cattle, it could cost the state's beef
industry millions of dollars.
Hunters have assisted FWP by gathering blood in sample
vials, and scientists have drawn blood from elk that were
captured for radio collaring.
In the winter of 2002-03, a total of 141 samples were
taken and 5 percent tested positive for exposure to the
bacteriological disease.
When the number of "seropositive" elk rises
above 5 percent, regulators need to pay closer attention,
according to Ryan Clark, a veterinarian for the U.S. Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the agency
that oversees brucellosis programs.
The disease is spread primarily through contact with infected
birthing materials or aborted fetuses, and, unlike cattle
or bison, elk tend to isolate themselves during birth,
limiting opportunities for exposure.
However, there are two main sources of the disease in
the Yellowstone National Park area: bison and the park's
southern elk herd, which spends its winters artificially
concentrated on feedlots in Wyoming and has seropositive
rates of up to 60 percent.
Without concentrated sources of the disease, Clark said,
brucellosis probably would fade away in free-ranging elk
herds.
Radio-collar studies show that many elk that winter in
the Madison Valley migrate to Yellowstone in the summer
and some travel as far as Jackson, Wyo.
Tom Roffe, a wildlife veterinarian for the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service who has studied brucellosis in wildlife
for years, said one possible source of the higher exposure
rates could be an elk feedlot that private citizens ran
in the West Yellowstone area until about 10 years ago,
when it was shut down by a new state law.
Montana State Veterinarian Tom Linfield said it's important
to the beef industry to know the full extent of the disease,
but hunting and wildlife advocates in the room urged FWP
not to let the Montana Department of Livestock dominate
any future actions.
Joe Gutkoski, of the Gallatin Wildlife Association, said
he fears that elk may someday get the same "ham-handed"
treatment Yellowstone bison receive today.
FWP regional director Pat Flowers stressed that no control
actions are planned.
"At this point, we don't have the data to say we
need any big management schemes," Flowers said.
Once future monitoring steps have been ironed out, a public
meeting will be held in the Madison Valley, he said.
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