Hunters And Landowners To Help Test Elk For Brucellosis

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As Montana seeks to manage the risk and stop the spread of brucellosis, hunters and landowners will be working together this fall help find a solution.

Brucellosis is a contagious bacterial infection in domestic animals, wildlife and humans worldwide.   In Montana, brucellosis has only been detected in elk, bison and recently in cattle in areas surrounding Yellowstone National Park. Brucellosis can cause pregnant cattle, bison and elk to abort their calves.

Compounding the worry are tests from the National Veterinary Services that suggest the recent brucellosis infections in southwestern Montana likely came from wildlife—and perhaps elk.

"It’s easy to see why so many Montanans are asking more questions," Hagener said.

For more than 20 years, while FWP quietly tested elk for brucellosis exposure, most of the concern about possible brucellosis infections have centered on Yellowstone National Park bison.

"Some say that because brucellosis originally came from domestic livestock and doesn’t harm elk and bison populations, so it is an agricultural concern, not a wildlife issue," Hagener said. "In fact, this is not an elk problem, nor a bison problem, nor a cattle problem. It’s a disease problem that should concern every Montanan, because it’s in the state’s best interest to foster and maintain a healthy livestock industry and healthy wildlife populations."

Hagener stressed that Montanans together need to do a better job of managing the brucellosis risk, which essentially means minimizing interactions between cattle and wildlife during the critical spring months when the transmission risk is high.

Since 1981, FWP tested nearly 7,000 elk for brucellosis exposure, mostly in the Greater Yellowstone Area north and west of the park. The results of those tests show brucellosis exposure rates that range from 0 to 5.5 percent.

In 2006, FWP established a committee to expand and improve brucellosis surveillance programs across the state.

Last year, FWP expanded testing, with hunter and landowner help, in six key areas: the Madison, Paradise, and Shields valleys, and areas near Gardiner, Bridger, and the Gravelly Mountains.

This year, FWP will redouble efforts to collect blood samples from hunter-harvested elk in those same areas, and to include other nearby areas. FWP will seek to establish the location of the disease in wildlife, complete wildlife and livestock risk assessments, and then determine if wildlife or livestock management practices need adjustments.

"Standing by in the face of today’s uncertainties and risks with brucellosis is not an option," Hagener said. "Montana’s livestock industry and ranching families are too important to this state."

Hagener also cautioned that inoculating or slaughtering elk herds is not an option either.

"On one hand, it’s simply not feasible to vaccinate or eliminate entire herds of these wide-ranging wild animals," he said. "On the other hand, elk and elk hunting are also culturally and economically important to Montana."

In FWP’s view, everyone who has a stake in this matter—including ranchers, hunters, and representatives of federal and state agencies—needs to work together.

"Only then can we assess where disease transmission risk is highest, figure out how to reduce the risk, " Hagener said.

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