Brucellosis plan gets mixed reviews

CODY, Wyo. — 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.

Combs said a version of the zone rule will be published soon in the Federal Register, followed by public meetings in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. He said establishing an elimination zone would save the agency the cost of nationwide brucellosis testing and administration duties.

Ranchers in the Yellowstone area have been skeptical about the proposed elimination zone, because they potentially face stricter and costlier disease control requirements than ranchers elsewhere.

Albert Sommers, a Pinedale rancher, was among those concerned that establishing the zone would marginalize the problem and reduce funding for research, testing and management of brucellosis. Sommers said Wyoming should take a unified approach "between wildlife and livestock" interests.

The zone proposal is "not going to do anything to eliminate the disease in this area," he said, adding that federal monitoring and testing requirements under the plan "could be so restrictive that it could put people out of business."

Wyoming state veterinarian Walter Cook said the proposed zone would help ranchers in the rest of Wyoming and the nation.

"No one there would have to worry about testing cattle for brucellosis ever again," Cook said. "People within the zone would still have restrictions," he said, but they would probably amount to about the same restrictions in place for managing the disease under current rules.