GILLETTE, Wyo. — Wildlife managers have confirmed a case of brucellosis in a cow elk harvested in the Bighorn Mountains, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
The cow was harvested by a hunter in late October on the western slope of the Bighorn Mountains, in Elk Hunt Area 45. The positive detection of brucellosis was confirmed in November by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, per Game and Fish.
While the disease has not been documented in any livestock in the region, the Wyoming Livestock Board is working closely with Game and Fish to monitor the disease, the department says.
Surveillance efforts in the Bighorn Mountains are being undertaken to determine the extent and distribution of the disease, Game and Fish says.
Brucellosis has been detected on the western slope of the Bighorn Mountains in the past. The disease was detected in the area from 2012 to 2016 and again in 2022 from a hunter-harvested bull elk, per Game and Fish.
