brucellosis

This fall elk hunters in specific hunt areas are again being asked by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to help brucellosis surveillance efforts by taking a blood sample from their elk immediately after harvest with a Game and Fish sample kit, keeping it cool and submitting it soon-after harvest.

Two elk tested positive for exposure during recent testing by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Fort Peck officials have been trying to increase the size of their bison herd, which now numbers almost 400 animals with the latest additions.

The Teton County case is not related to the case found in early October in Park County.

No further information about the infected herd or its location was released due to privacy laws.

Brucellosis causes animals to prematurely abort their young and can be transmitted through birthing material.

If they remain disease-free, the bison will be relocated to start new herds or supplement existing ones for conservation or cultural purposes.

Thirty elk were fitted with radio collars to study their movements and understand how the disease may spread.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to call the Yellowstone National Park Tip Line at (307) 344-2132 or email YELL_LEO@nps.gov.

Some person or persons entered the Stephens Creek facility, which is permanently closed to the public, and cut fencing.