Survey shows elk brucellosis on rise in Yellowstone region
CBU opinion: Brucellosis infection rates have increased since the introduction of wolves. The wolves have been the main key to higher elk densities year round on agricultural lands. The elk herds have increased in population everywhere Montana except the in the Northern Yellowstone herd. The closure of the Gardiner hunt is proof of this.
A study by the U.S. Geological Survey says elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem appear to be carrying the disease brucellosis at increasing rates.
Researchers found that the prevalence of the disease in the ecosystem’s free-ranging elk was between 0 percent and 7 percent in 1991-1992. That had increased to between 8 percent and 20 percent in 2006-2007.
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