Too many Wolves, Too Many Cougars, Too many Bears, Too many of all carnivores if you listen to many hunting and ranching groups,,,,,,Their take is carnivores = dead deer, elk, caribou, moose and livestock................Bottom line is disease is the single largest and most severe killer of all wild and domestic hoofed browsers.............And the so called dreaded carnivore is a beneficial and healing agent of disease by lowering densities of the "browsers"........Just like in overcrowded dormitories, hospitals, office buildings, commuter trains, buses, clubs and bars where overcrowding of human animals leads to propagation of virulent contagious diseases,,,,,the same is true for wildlife.........Too many animals in a given watershed and you have the formula for germs running amuck---- in this case with deer and Elk,,,,, epizootic hemorrhagic disease(deer) and tuberculosis(Elk)...........Carnivores needed on the land in sizeable numbers to reduce this pestulance!

Northern Plains hit hard by deer-killing disease

By MATTHEW BROWN

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — White-tailed deer populations in parts of eastern Montana and elsewhere in the Northern Plains could take years to recover from a devastating disease that killed thousands of the animals in recent months, wildlife officials and hunting outfitters said.

In northeast Montana, officials said 90 percent or more of whitetail have been killed along a 100-mile stretch of the Milk River from Malta to east of Glasgow. Whitetail deaths also have been reported along the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in western North Dakota and eastern Montana and scattered sites in Wyoming, South Dakota and eastern Kansas.

The deaths are being attributed to an outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD. Transmitted by biting midges, EHD causes internal bleeding that can kill infected animals within just a few days."I've been here 21 years and it was worse than any of us here have seen," said Pat Gunderson, the Glasgow-based regional supervisor for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "Right now it's going to take a few years to get things back to even a moderate population."

In North Dakota, state wildlife chief Randy Kreil described the outbreak as the most extensive and deadly in two decades. ule deer, bighorn sheep, elk and pronghorn also are susceptible to EHD, but it is particularly damaging to whitetail herds, animal health experts said. Livestock can be infected but typically show few symptoms.

Researchers say the virus that causes EHD does not infect people and there is no risk of eating or handling infected deer, ore precise estimates of the number of whitetail killed are expected after agencies conduct winter population counts and survey fall hunter success.

Periodic outbreaks of EHD occur in whitetail herds across the country. Wildlife officials say the outbreak in the Northern Plains stands out for the high number of deaths and wide area affected.
Animal health experts suspect it was triggered by an exceptionally wet spring that led to lots of muddy breeding habitat for the biting midges that carry the disease. A warm fall meant the midges lingered and continued transmitting EHD to deer.

The outbreak followed a harsh winter that already had knocked down deer numbers across the region.
In response to those winter deaths, Gunderson said the number of hunting tags offered in northeast Montana was reduced from 5,000 to 4,000. After the EHD outbreak began in late summer, sales of another 2,000 tags were suspended.

In western North Dakota, 1,500 licenses were suspended and the state offered refunds for deer tags already sold. More than 630 people took advantage of the refunds, said Randy Meissner, license manager for North Dakota Game and Fish.

Hunting outfitter Eric Albus in Hinsdale, Mont., said his business ran one archery hunting trip along the Milk River this fall, compared to 40 or 50 hunts in prior years."It was horrendous," Albus said, "especially when you couple it with the fact that we lost 40 to 45 percent of our whitetail in the winter."

To satisfy his customers, Albus said he leased alternate properties to hunt on that were up to 350 miles away from Hinsdale.In southern states where deer have a history of exposure to EHD, death rates from the disease are relatively low, said David Stallknecht with the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, which has been tracking EHD for more than 30 years.

Whitetail in northern states are more likely to die because they lack the antibodies from previous exposures needed to help fight off the disease, said Stallknecht, a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia.He said a better picture of the outbreak will come later this year, after state wildlife agencies from across the country submit annual animal mortality data to the Southeastern Cooperative
Notwithstanding the disease's economic impacts to the region's hunting industry, Gunderson said the loss of so many deer along the Milk and Missouri rivers could have an upside.

Along some stretches of the river, a combination of animal grazing and ice jams scraping the riverbank each winter have prevented cottonwood trees from regenerating for decades.

After the region's record spring floods allowed seedlings to take root high up on the banks, where they are more protected, Gunderson said a new crop of trees could thrive with so many whitetail gone."We won't have the tremendous deer population browsing on them, so hopefully we'll get the cottonwoods along these river bottoms that will take us through the next 100 years," he said
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Manitoba elk tested for tuberculosis amid infection fears

A Roosevelt Elk is seen in this March 7, 2008 file photo. Elks in a Manitoba national park will be tested for tuberculosis to curb the spread of the disease (AP/Ted S. Warren)

The Canadian Press
WINNIPEG — The federal government is planning to test elk for tuberculosis in a Manitoba national park amid fears the disease could infect cattle herds.

Parks Canada has issued a request for proposals for tests in Riding Mountain National Park citing a "serious threat" to the livestock industry. The park in western Manitoba is home to just over 2,000 elk and officials estimate about four per cent are infected with the contagious respiratory illness.

"The ecological impact of the disease on the elk population is unknown, although with a low prevalence, it is not believed to be population limiting," says the request obtained by The Canadian Press.

"However, being present in a wild ungulate population, that is transboundary and therefore migrates out of the park and onto adjacent lands, creates a serious threat to the livestock industry."

The request says there are about 50,000 cows on 700 farms in the area that could be threatened by the contagious disease.

Ken Kingdon, co-ordinator of the wildlife health program at Riding Mountain park, said testing is part of an ongoing effort to "whittle" away at the disease. Elk are tested and then tracked using a GPS collar, he said. Infected elk are recaptured and destroyed. "Our intent and our hope is that our actions will end up leading to eradication of bovine tuberculosis in wildlife."

The disease has lingered for decades but Kingdon said there's reason to be optimistic that it may be on the wane. All the animals which have tested positive in recent years have been older elk, suggesting that the next generation doesn't seem to be as susceptible. "There are no new animals getting the disease," Kingdon said. "That gives us some real hope that once we get rid of this older generation of animals, that we'll actually get rid of the disease."

Cam Dahl, general manager of the Manitoba Beef Producers, said farmers need a much more aggressive strategy. Dahl said battling tuberculosis for over 20 years has taken a toll. The constant testing of cattle herds is expensive -- $14 a head -- and is now borne entirely by the farmer, Dahl said. One infected cow can mean an entire herd needs to be destroyed and can lead to difficulty selling beef in some markets, he noted.

It's not enough to test the elk herd periodically, said Dahl, who suggested all levels of government have to come together and appoint a co-ordinator who can work across all jurisdictions to eradicate the disease.He pointed out other jurisdictions, such as Minnesota, have managed to stamp out the disease."The status quo is not something that is sustainable and not something that we would like to see continue. Producers in that area do need to see the disease eradicated."

In addition to the federal effort, provincial officials say they are also doing what they can. Richard Davis, a biologist with Manitoba Conservation, said hunters are required to provide biological samples to keep tabs on diseased animals outside of the national park. But they don't actively seek out the animals, he said.
"It's very difficult. You can't tell from just looking at a live animal if it has a disease or not."

Dale Douma, a veterinarian with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, said farmers themselves have a role to play in curbing TB.  Tuberculosis is spread primarily through shared hay bales if they are not protected from wild elk. That's why many provincial programs are aimed at keeping elk from interacting with livestock using proper fencing and dogs, Douma said. "That basically prevents or reduces the number of wildlife that come on to your property and then, if they do come on to your property, hopefully that feed is being held behind a wildlife-proof fence," he said.