While only nine elk have been documented with brucellosis outside of the Greater Yellowstone Area, officials with the Wyoming Game & Fish Department are remaining vigilant in their efforts to understand the ecology of the disease.
Caused by the bacteria Brucella abortus, brucellosis affects both bison and elk, causing those affected to abort and is a condition that can be transmitted not only from elk to elk but to livestock as well.
“The information from this study will also be used to keep livestock producers informed regarding the presence and distribution of the disease,” Bighorn Basin Brucellosis Habitat Biologist Eric Maichak said.
As part of these efforts, the Department is continuing its study in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming this month as they plan to capture and collar upwards of 52 elk in the area. Helicopters will be dispatched in the northern and southern Bighorn Mountains and along the Greybull River where biologists will net-gun elk and fit each captured animal with a GPS tracking collar. As the operation unfolds across multiple locations each day, researchers will take blood samples from captured specimens and analyze the data.
“The study was initiated in 2015 in conjunction with the U.S. Animal Plant Health Inspection Service to better understand seasonal movements and brucellosis prevalence of elk in the Bighorn Mountains. The project also aims to isolate and analyze genetic strains of the brucellosis bacteria to help determine how it may have spread to the Bighorn Mountains,” Maichak said.
In 2016, 57 elk were captured, tested and fitted with collars as part of the project and this year’s effort will not only maintain consistent sample sizes but will also give researchers the opportunity to replace any collars that may have been lost to either mortality or failure.
As with many research efforts, hunters have played a huge role by voluntarily collecting blood samples from animals killed during open hunting seasons and submitting them to Game and Fish officials.
“Game and Fish sincerely thanks all hunters who submitted blood samples this past season. These data are invaluable for helping Game and Fish, managers, and researchers monitor, understand management impacts and plan future research regarding brucellosis,” Maichak said.
Organizers are keeping a close eye on weather conditions as the project is slated to commence. Deep snowfall and cold temperatures have been hard on wildlife populations across the west this season and officials have stated that the operation would be canceled if the capture was deemed to cause too much stress on the elk.
