PINEDALE - Twenty elk trapped on the Fall Creek feedground tested positive for exposure to brucellosis, Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials said Wednesday.

That came a day after five elk had to be destroyed as a result of problems trapping and processing animals at the feedground.

In fact, two of the positive tests were from animals that were euthanized on site due to injury. The others were from 18 cow elk that were shipped to a USDA-inspected processing plant in Idaho for slaughter Wednesday morning. Meat from the animals is safe for human consumption and will be brought back to Wyoming for distribution through the Food Bank of the Rockies.

Brucellosis is a bacterial-caused disease of the reproductive tract, so only adult females are tested for the disease. It causes abortion in hooved animals and is transmitted by direct contact with infected animals or with an environment that has been contaminated with discharges from infected animals. There is no cure for the disease.

Testing involves drawing a blood sample from a vein in the elk�s neck to test for the presence of brucella antibodies. Some animals may lack antibodies but may still be infected if they are incubating the bacteria. Killing animals that have a positive or a suspect test is generally necessary so that tissue samples can be obtained for bacteriological culture, officials say. A team of scientists is slated to travel to Idaho to obtain tissue samples from the dead elk.

Game and Fish Department Brucellosis Information and Education Specialist Chris Colligan said there were nearly 300 elk trapped at Fall Creek, including 184 adult females that were tested for brucellosis. Colligan said he believed this is the largest group of elk the agency has worked in a trap, far surpassing capture efforts of the last two years. There were also a total of eight deaths associated with the trapping effort at Fall Creek, including the five that were euthanized.

The agency continued the test-and-removal work Wednesday, successfully trapping an estimated 200 elk at the Muddy Creek elk feedground near Boulder. A total of 112 were bled for brucellosis testing and put into a holding pen.

Colligan said everything went smoothly at the Muddy Creek facility until the work was nearly all completed late in the afternoon. All the blood samples had been taken, and the cow elk were being moved from a smaller holding pen into the larger trap for the night when a large group of elk crowded against a gate, forcing it open. About 40 of the elk escaped, and one died in the process.

No people were injured, and quick action from the crew got the gate closed and the majority of the cow elk herd into the larger pod of the trap for the night.

Results of the testing were expected this morning. Animals with positive test results will be transported to Idaho for slaughter, and those with negative results will be released back onto the feedground.

As for the animals that escaped the trap, their future will be determined once the test results are known, according to Colligan.

�We�ll wait to evaluate the situation once we get the results back from the lab,� he said. The animals that escaped are wearing large rubber collars with individual numbers that correspond to their blood sample, so identifying any positive animals, if any, won�t be a problem.

In years past, a few animals that were accidentally let out of the trap and then known to have tested positive for brucellosis exposure were shot on the feedlines. That�s one possibility for the future, but Colligan emphasized that further planning will be guided by the lab results.

Brucellosis is common in elk and bison in western Wyoming. Transmission from elk to cattle occurred in western Wyoming in 2003, leading to the state losing its coveted brucellosis-free status for its livestock herds. Wyoming eventually regained its disease-free status.

This is the third year of a pilot test-and-removal program for the Pinedale elk herd, with the goal of reducing the brucellosis rate in the elk herd, while reducing the risk of transmitting the disease to cattle. The program was recommended by the Wyoming Brucellosis Coordination Team.

* Last we knew: Some 300 elk were trapped at the Fall Creek feedground near Pinedale Tuesday.

* The latest: Twenty of them tested positive for exposure to brucellosis.

* What's next: Results from elk tested at the nearby Muddy Creek feedground are expected today.]]>

The deaths of nine elk this week due to problems trapping and processing the animals on two Sublette County feedgrounds haven't changed the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's commitment to a pilot test-and-removal program, an officials said Wednesday.

�It�s something we can work through,� said Chris Colligan, Game and Fish's brucellosis information and education specialist. �That�s just part of trapping large, wild animals.�

But critics of the state's elk feedgrounds say the problems point to a need to phase out the feedgrounds.

�We are dismayed by this unfortunate event, but we know that accidents can happen when dealing with high concentrations of wildlife in artificial situations," said Sophie Osborn, wildlife program director for the Wyoming Outdoor Council. �Phasing out the use of feedgrounds, which unnaturally concentrate elk, would prevent these kinds of accidents and be a more effective means of reducing disease transmission in our elk herds than relying on the unproven, labor-intensive, and risky test-and-slaughter program.�

�It�s gut-wrenching to imagine what the Game and Fish personnel - and the elk - had to go through during this capture and slaughter of elk," said Lloyd Dorsey of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. �This unfortunate situation reinforces the plain fact that phasing out the feedgrounds is the best solution to the problems of brucellosis in elk and cattle.�

But Walt Gasson, executive director Wyoming Wildlife Federation, said the elk trapping and testing is part of the state's responsibility to manage the elk herd.

"It isn�t desirable we have brucellosis in Wyoming. It was an ugly situation inside the trap, but if we weren�t actively managing this, then I don�t think we�d be fulfilling our stewardship responsibilities," Gasson said. "We have feedgrounds, we�re going to have feedgrounds, we�ve got brucellosis - we need to play the hand we were dealt. Is it always pretty? No, it�s not. But over the long haul, we have hopes that maybe someday we can get on top of this problem.�

- Cat Urbigkit and Chris Merrill]]>