0 Thorne, E. Tom D. Abendroth S. Kilpatrick S. Smith 1996 Wyoming Wildlife 60 17-24 1996 486 bison, brucella, brucella abortus, bacteria, brucellosis, feedgrounds, management, feedgrounds No animal is more symbolic of the vast open spaces, deep forests, and rugged mountain landscapes of Wyoming than the elk. Residents and visitors alike enjoy seeing and photographing elk, hearing them bugle, stalking them on crisp fall days, and just knowing they’re out there, living wild.Elk are a reflection of nature’s grandeur, but they bring with them a burden of responsibility. Managing elk herds in a state like Wyoming demands a detailed technical grasp of their biology and ecology along with a year-to-year assessment of their abundance and productivity. Beyond the scientific requirements, good elk management must strike a precarious balance among a spectrum of public interests on a mixture of public and private land. Anyone concerned with elk and the complexity of the biological and political issues involved in elk management.Brucellosis is a problem of particular concern to wildlife managers in western Wyoming because elk herds associated with feed grounds there carry this disease. While the disease is not fatal to an adult elk, it typically causes fifty percent of infected females to abort their first calves following the infection. Even more important are the consequences of elk infecting cattle with brucellosis. If this ever happened, it could interfere with cattle sale and shipment in Wyoming. The state’s livestock industry could face dire economic impacts.In such circumstances, Wyoming’s elk could face a crisis of their own. If ranchers found that elk were infecting their cattle, there might well be a call for compensation payments from the state and/or extreme control measures. The state might be forced to reduce elk herds. A testing program could be required in which all elk testing positive were immediately slaughtered. There might be pressure to eliminate elk feed grounds, since feed-ground elk are more likely to carry brucellosis than elk wintering on native habitat.Brucellosis is a problem in elk of the Yellowstone area, not only because it has focused intense political pressure on a treasured wildlife resource. Both wildlife managers and livestock managers are interested in preventing the spread of brucellosis among elk, bison, and cattle, but reaching that goal won’t be simple. The best way to begin is with a combination of strategies that addresses both the causes and potential effects of the disease. Found in Bison LibraryNatureBib ID: 652385