Maxwell Buffalo Perishing: Wildlife Refuge Faces Costly Endeavor to Restock Herd
The Hutchinson News
07 Dec 2006
Amy Bickel

It's a sanctuary where buffalo still roam through tall stands of prairie grass as they did before Kansas was a state. But fewer animals wander across Maxwell Wildlife Refuge since disease swept through the Canton-area herd. Officials have battled mycoplasma bovis since September, a disease that canceled the refuge's annual November buffalo sale. By December, 47 of the nearly 200 buffalo that graze at Maxwell died.

And Manager Cliff Peterson said he would put down another sick animal Wednesday. While things are improving - Peterson says only a few more animals have symptoms - the refuge soon will begin another venture: restocking the diminished herd. More than 40 percent of the animals that died were of prime breeding age, Peterson said. He sent a request to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks recently for funds to purchase two dozen 3-year-old cows. That could cost upward of $20,000 to $25,000, depending on the market price, he said.

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Scientists Watch Deer for Wasting Disease
Journal Opinion (Posted by stpns.net)
06 Dec 2006
Nessa Flax

In March of 2005, Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was found in captive white-tailed deer in upstate New York. Shortly thereafter, CWD was found in wild white-tailed deer in the same county of Oneida. These were particularly alarming events for New England deer management officials. Prior to 2005, CWD had been found mostly in the western states of America and in provinces of Canada, in mule deer, black-tailed deer and in elk. “Our concern level is relatively high, because we don’t know much about the disease yet. Until we know more about the management of the disease, concern will remain high,” John Buck told the Journal Opinion in a telephone interview.

A wildlife biologist for the State of Vermont, Buck is responsible for the deer management program. CWD was first recognized in the late 1960s in a captive mule deer in Colorado. It was not until the late 1970s that CWD was diagnosed as a spongiform encephalopathy—a disease that affects the brain and other neural tissues. This type of disease is not caused by another organism such as bacteria, virus or fungi.

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Idaho Elk Ranchers Face Extinction: Uncertain Future for 77 Ranches in State
Capital Press
07 Dec 2006
Mike Griffel

As the dust settles from the recent controversy surrounding the escape of domestic elk from a southeastern Idaho shooter-bull operation, many elk ranchers across the state are looking at an uncertain future. In fact, Idaho's 77 elk ranches may not exist in a year or two if opponents are able to drum up support in the Legislature to ban cervidae operations. "I hope when it's all said and done we can still stay in business," said Jeff Siddoway, talking about the controversy that arose after dozens of domestic elk escaped from Rex Rammell's shooter-bull operation east of Ashton, Idaho. Siddoway, a fourth-generation sheep rancher, owns Juniper Mountain Ranch, a shooter-bull operation near St. Anthony, and was recently elected for the first time to the state Senate.

Around Aug. 14, dozens of domestic elk escaped from a 160-acre pen, triggering a fight between a sometimes-combative Rammell and the state of Idaho. Gov. Jim Risch intervened in early September and ordered the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to destroy elk still on the lam because of concerns Rammell's elk would spread diseases such as brucellosis, tuberculosis or chronic wasting disease to wild herds. Officials were also concerned Rammell's elk contained red deer genes that would pollute the genetic makeup of wild elk herds. The controversy sparked an election-year stampede of politicians concerned about the disease risks domestic elk pose to wild herds.

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Feds Praise Disease Efforts
Jackson Hole Star-Tribune
07 Dec 2006
Brodie Farquhar

Federal animal disease representatives on Wednesday officially recognized Wyoming as "brucellosis-free," but there are no guarantees the state won't have to repeat its two years of intensive effort to regain that status in the future. Brucellosis-free status means that cattle herds in the state have been free of any new brucellosis outbreaks for the previous 12 months. Brucellosis is a disease that can cause abortions in cattle and is endemic in greater Yellowstone bison and elk herds -- especially those elk herds that winter on federal and state feedgrounds. Jerry Diemer, associate director of veterinary services for the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, presented the Wyoming Livestock Board with a brucellosis-free certificate on Wednesday in Casper.

The presentation ends a two-year period when state livestock producers bore testing costs and other regulatory burdens imposed by APHIS. Speaking on the heels of a winter livestock convention at the Parkway Plaza, Diemer congratulated the Livestock Board, the governor’s brucellosis task force, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the state’s cattle producers “for all your hard work. I want you to know that that work is recognized by other states.” State Veterinarian Dwayne Oldham also thanked the state’s cattle producers and sale barn operators, but noted that, “We still have hard work ahead to keep our status and ensure it doesn’t happen again, or if it does, stop it quickly.” Not everyone is sure that brucellosis won't crop up again in cattle, particularly in northwest counties that border Yellowstone National Park or include elk feedgrounds.

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