Bison and Brucellosis
Post by Clemson undergraduate Erin Doege
Senator
Pat Flowers has a tall order to fill. He has to find a solution that will
appease everyone. He explains that there are many players in the political
landscape concerned with brucellosis and wildlife. You have the hunters,
general population, ranchers, conservation groups, Native Americans, and
various advocacy groups. Every group has their own values and what they want
the outcome to be. Senator Flowers explained to us that the State of Montana
has seen many changes and has transitioned into a patchwork of ranchers and
amenity owners. We heard from a rancher the previous day but the amenity owners
are usually seasonal residents and if they have livestock it is just as a
hobby. The amenity owners love the wildlife and want them on their lands. They
say they don’t see the problem with wildlife. But their ranching neighbors say
your elk are killing us and eating our grass. The hunters also do not want to
see the elk populations heavily regulated. The hunters bring in much needed
revenue to the state. Ranchers would not mind having hunters on their land but
the amenity owners do not want the hunters on their land. Also the definition
of wild bison was also becoming stricter. The reason for this is to limit the
number of bison to receive wildlife status which affects conservation groups
such as the American Prairie Reserve. The final piece in the political
landscape is that brucellosis is on the homeland security list. Being on that
list makes it near impossible for agencies to do research with it to find an
effective vaccination and boosters. Taking all of this into account the senator
says the solution to brucellosis is using a variety of methods. They just have
to get everyone to the table with open minds and know that sometimes they may
not be the expert. Senator Pat Flowers seems hopefully and optimistic. He said
solutions are on the horizon and despite the many obstacles in the way it is
important to stay poised and ready to seize the opportunities of shifting
policies. The shifting policies will get you through the door to the solution,
you just have to be ready because you never know when that shift will come.
When opinions, beliefs, and
livelihoods differ on hot topic issues lines are often quickly drawn between
people that when left unresolved can then become a chasm so wide it can only be
bridged with immense difficulty. The hot topic issue of the bacterial infection
Brucella abortus is an example of
this chasm with ranchers on one side and certain interest groups on the other. Brucella abortus, also known as
brucellosis, currently only affects livestock, bison, and elk in the Greater
Yellowstone Area. Brucellosis can infect tissue in the reproductive tract of
the nervous system through microglial cells in the brain. When an animal is
infected with brucellosis a female will either spontaneously abort the fetus or
will carry to term and the calf will be born weak and will eventually die. Once
an animal is infected with brucellosis it cannot be cured. There is, however, a
vaccine for it, nicknamed a bangs shot, but it is only about 60 % effective.
Even though this disease is currently only affecting the Greater Yellowstone
Area it concerns and has consequences that can be felt among many different sectors. Conservation and wildlife enthusiasts want
to see bison herds restored to the landscape along with keeping elk on the
landscape as well. Ranchers want bison to stay in Yellowstone and elk
populations to be subjected to the same standard as the bison. On the flip side
of the coin, wildlife is a public resource and public lands that belong to
everyone. Finally you have politicians that are responsible for appeasing everyone
who just cannot seem to agree. Brucellosis and wildlife issues weave a
complicated web of emotions, politics, and science.
We met with a rancher in Paradise
Valley, Druska Kinkie, who has a cow calf operation. She married into the
ranching life but is as fully devoted to it as ranchers who have been there their
whole life. She is very active in advocating for the ranching. Bison are contained in Yellowstone and
if they leave the park they are hazed back in or removed by lethal means. So
she is not too concerned at the present time about transmission of brucellosis
from bison to cattle. What concerns her the most are the elk. Elk cannot be
regulated by the same mechanisms as bison. They are greater in numbers and more
wide spread. They can also easily access fenced off areas. Druska told our
group about what in all goes into her operations on a yearly basis. At the
beginning on the year cows start coming home from the mountains and are fed hay
and preparation for precalving. Calves are born around February or March. Then
they choose to participate in an artificial insemination program around May
that allows them to select the best cattle but it is very labor intensive and very
expensive. Calving is done in June and in the fall cows are gathered up. Calves
are sold by pounds of calves. Then at the end of the year they pregnancy test
cows and send them back to the mountains till the snow gets to deep or the
water freezes. Her cow calf operation means that she only gets paid once a year
when they sell their calves. So if there is even just one that gets tested
positive for brucellosis all of their calves gets sent back from the sell and
they go into quarantine. So for that year they are not paid and have to spend
the next year going through testing and incurring additional cost of buying hay
since they cannot let their cattle graze. For a lot of ranchers quarantine is
devastating and they will not make it. Druska also expresses concerns about the
reintroduction of wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Area and the increased
populations of other predators such as the grizzly bear. Wolves have
proliferated since being reintroduced. Without predators, species that were preyed
on increased dramatically. She says predators are pushing elk out of the park
and cause additional stress on her cattle which keeps their weight low. When
they find one of their cows killed by a predator, if proven by USFWS they will
receive payment for the cow. But the kill has to be found in time which usually
doesn’t happen. The payment is based on a predetermined formula that does not
factor in any additional treatments such as artificial insemination program. Despite
all of this when asked what she loves most about ranching she says the animals.
The animals make everything worth it and if it was not for them they would not
be in Paradise Valley.
Science is supposed to tell us the unbiased truth. Kim Szcodronski with USGS
provides us with hard science. The research of Paul Cross told us that
brucellosis increases correlate with elk density not bison. And feed lots also
provide some sort of containment of the disease by keeping elk away from cattle
operations. Bison historically did not pass the disease to cattle. Bison passed
it to the elk who then passed it to cattle, though bison and elk have passed it
back and forth. Research from Paul Cross and Kim Szcodronski also show that
predators and scavengers act as cleaning agents by consuming the aborted fetuses.
This research conflicts with some part of each group's view. The issue of
brucellosis and wildlife will not be solved until people stop saying what am I
getting out of this and start saying I will give this thing up so we can all
benefit in the long run.
