Wildlife Disease
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Billings Gazette reporter Mike Stark has finally done the needed spade work to come up with the story of how mange was spread into the canid population of the area, including now one wolf pack in Yellowstone. Mange threatening wolves. By Mike Stark. Billings Gazette.
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In the second year of a project called “sadly misconceived” by conservationists, 173 elk were trapped at Muddy Creek feedground near Pinedale. 79 of the elk were adult females. 13 of the 79 tested seropositive for brucellosis and were slaughtered. “Seropositive” means the elk had antibodies — they had been exposed to brucellosis. A smaller…
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Finally some aid may be coming to Yellowstone’s bison, artificially constrained to Yellowstone Park. The GAO, the investigatory arm of Congress, is looking into a number of bison issues, including the failure of CUT, the Church Universal and Triumphant, a land-owning cult immediately north of the Yellowstone boundary, to allow bison to cross its land.…
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There is finally some action in the state legislature on the many bills introduced to regulate/self-regulate/or crack down on the domestic elk industry in Idaho. Hunters, elk ranchers take stands on bills. Senate committee hears testimony on measures that would restrict elk-ranching industry. By Roger Phillips. Idaho Statesman
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I warned folks of the dangers of coyote, dog, fox, and wolf scat last September. Article. Now a rare case of echinococcus granulosus (disseminated tapeworm cysts) has shown up in an elk shot near Paradise Valley north of Yellowstone Park. An anti-wolf group is trying to make it an issue, although among canids the ratio…
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Folks have been wondering what these Wyoming state-run feedlots look like. The photo is of the Grays River feedlot, a few miles south of Alpine, WY and near the Idaho border (menace to Idaho elk). This small feedlot is right next to a busy highway and it has a fence on 3 sides. The photo…
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The alpha male of Mollies Pack has been stricken with mange. While mange has been a persistent problem around the Park to the north in Montana and to east between the Park and Cody, this is the first case in the Park. Story in the Billings Gazette. When a wolf gets mange, it tends to…
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In response to a past lawsuit, the National Elk Refuge at Jackson, Wyoming has announced it will feed fewer elk, probably, therefore, reducing the size of the Jackson Hole Elk Herd. The plan is to also reduce the Jackson Hole bison herd by half, a good idea because, unlike Yellowstone Park bison, the Jackson bison…