Elk trapped at Fall Creek
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
January 27, 2009
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department was successful in its elk capture efforts at the Fall Creek elk feedground on Tuesday morning. A total of 192 elk were captured in the trap that had been baited with hay. The elk were trapped as part of the fourth year of a five-year pilot project aimed at reducing brucellosis in the Pinedale Elk Herd.
Since brucellosis is a disease associated with the reproductive tract, only adult female elk are tested for the disease, which causes abortion in hoofed animals like elk and cattle. On Tuesday, blood samples were taken from 122 elk and driven to the state vet lab in Laramie for testing. The results should be available overnight.
Meanwhile, the 122 bleeders were being held overnight in a holding pen at the Fall Creek feedground, awaiting the test results. Elk that test seropositive for brucellosis will be sent to a USDA-inspected slaughter facility in eastern Idaho. Elk that test free of the disease will be released back onto the feedground.
Capture efforts were slated to continue at the Scab Creek and Muddy Creek elk feedgrounds Wednesday morning.
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