Wyoming group considers brucellosis hot zone - Deseret News
CODY, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming group that works to control the animal disease brucellosis has mixed opinions about a federal plan to declare the nation brucellosis free except for the greater Yellowstone area.
The Wyoming Brucellosis Coordination Team considered the U.S. Department of Agriculture's proposed National Brucellosis Elimination Zone at a Thursday meeting.
Generally, ranchers outside the zone would not have to deal with brucellosis testing sanctions whenever an infection occurred within the Yellowstone region. Ranchers inside the zone would face continued testing and vaccination programs intended to control the bacterial disease.
Brucellosis can cause pregnant elk, cattle and bison to abort their fetuses. The livestock industry has eradicated the disease in most of the country, but it persists in Yellowstone's elk and bison herds and is sometimes passed to area livestock.
"For the last three years, all of the brucellosis that has been found in the country in domestic cattle has been found here around the greater Yellowstone area," said Bret Combs, head veterinarian in Wyoming for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.