BILLINGS, Mont.—Montana wildlife officials have killed a pair of elk north of Yellowstone National Park near Gardiner after they tested positive for exposure to the disease brucellosis.
The elk were killed to guard against a transmission of the disease to cattle. The killing of the animals near Gardiner marked the first time elk were killed over brucellosis concerns in more than two decades, said Ron Aasheim with the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Their removal highlights a shift in the concern over brucellosis away from bison—long viewed as the most likely source of transmission.
At least seven brucellosis infections in cattle in the past several years were suspected of coming from elk.
The disease can cause pregnant livestock and wildlife to prematurely abort their young. A pair of cattle infections in Montana over the past two years led the federal government last year to revoke the state’s brucellosis-free status for the first time since 1985.
The killed elk had been radio-collared last year as part of a Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks research program. That research indicated the animals were likely to spend winter or early spring in areas with livestock.
They were part of a herd of about 6,000 to 7,000 elk that ranges north of Yellowstone National Park.
Since the 1980s, Yellowstone’s bison—which have a much higher rate of brucellosis—have been periodically rounded up by the hundreds and slaughtered to prevent them from entering areas with cattle. The controversial program appears to be working, at least in terms of disease control, but duplicating it for the region’s approximately 95,000 elk is considered impossible.
Instead, officials are trying to come up with ways to manage brucellosis by keeping elk and cattle separate, particularly during calving season.
“We’re trying to learn more about where those elk move and minimizing interactions between wildlife and cattle in those key times,” Aasheim said.
Earlier this week, the Montana Board of Livestock finalized a brucellosis “action plan” as part of its effort to restore the state’s disease-free status.
The plan calls for cattle producers in seven Yellowstone-area counties to test their entire herd for the disease. It also recommends calves receive brucellosis vaccinations, although those are not considered foolproof.
The state is eligible to reapply in May to regain its disease-free status from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
