DOL Bison Capture, Test, Slaughter Then Vaccinate

[katqanna]

The DOL's Bison Capture, Test, Slaughter Then Vaccinate project near West Yellowstone postponed. Bozeman Daily Chronicle article - Bison vaccination project near West Yellowstone postponed

This is great news. It wasnt just the west side DOL was planning on setting up a trap though, they were simply going to wait until the hunt on the north side concluded before they began the north side captures.

It is interesting when this discussion and vote with the Board of Livestock occurred. I was there before the beginning of the meeting and began taping. I left about 4 something, well after the agenda items under Animal Health, Marty Zaluski concluded. They began discussing the FWP elk capture program, which I only got part of when I had to leave. Voting on this vaccination was not even on the agenda. So they must have voted on this later. But, they are coming after the elk.

There is also a growing awareness of the extent to which elk herds carry brucellosis. Even the 2005 environmental assessment acknowledged elk as a problem, concluding a bison vaccination program wouldn't eliminate brucellosis without a program to eliminate brucellosis in elk.

 

[bigskyblueman]

Five years ago I asked Neil Anderson [ FWP biologist ], what would happen to elk that tested positive for brucella. He wouldn't answer even after three attempts. So, I guess I got my answer .

 

[katqanna]

Bigsky, this elk capture study FWP is doing by Neil Anderson, is 80% funded by APHIS. At the end of the study, all the elk they captured that tested seropositive, which does not = infection, can also represent immunity, these positive elk will be slaughtered.

I just had to buy and install a new harddrive (I had maxed out my other with video editing) and install the new operating system, migrate all my data, but the web design program is not compatible (upgrades are always a domino effect), so until the new software arrives, I am bouncing between two harddrives and a thmbdrive to get anything done on the web. I will get that elk audio edited from the Board of Livestock meeting, as well as the two from the rancher working group in Livingston, so y'all can hear the plans for the elk, which got me started on all this.