Vol 3, # 22

   Friday, February 26, 1999

YELLOWSTONE
WEATHER
Highs 30s, Lows 10s
Some Snow
 

Yellowstone Net Home Page

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- It is terribly unfortunate that the recent purported research regarding the transmission of brucellosis to cattle has made it into the press.  The reality is that this research was not scientifically credible.

In the Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee's report it was concluded that "wild elk or bison were the probable source of B. abortus infection for cattle on six Wyoming
premises in the GYA."  The references to substantiate these conclusions were primarily personal communications with U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, a non-peer reviewed presentation at at Veterinary Epidemiology Zoonosis and Economics Symposium, and a epidemiological traceback report prepared on the outbreak of brucellosis in the Parker Land and Cattle Company Herd. 

There are, as you can imagine, a number of problems with relying on these references as proof that Brucella abortus can and has been transmitted from wildlife to domestic livestock.  Because these six cases of purported interspecies transmission are so old, much of the test data and other information had been discarded decades ago.   Thus, instead of having hard evidence to rely on to substantiate these claims, the GYIBC had to rely principally on personal communications with USDA officials for evidence about these incidents.  These officials, however, cannot be considered unbiased sources given the obsession of their agency in eradicating brucellosis from wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone area.  Also, because of the time that has passed since these alleged incidents occurred, these individuals had to rely on memory primarily to reconstruct the facts behind each incident.  This is not good science and it exemplifies the bias inherent within the GYIBC to eradicate brucellosis instead of managing to reduce the theoretical, yet unsubstantiated, risk of transmission.

The Parker case, which occurred after Wyoming was declared brucellosis-free, also provides no absolute evidence that either elk or bison transmitted Brucella abortus to cattle.  The ruling held that elk or bison were responsible for the infection.    However, according to Dr. Paul Nicoletti, a brucellosis expert who was a witness in the case, during the trial it was confirmed that there was a group of cattle imported into Parker herd whose origins were never confirmed.  Parker apparently neglected to inform the USDA of these animals so its report never determined the source of these animals or whether the source was from an infected herd.

Finally, the National Academy of Sciences report on bison and brucellosis provides a far different conclusion about these alleged six incidents of interspecies transmission.   I attempted, without success, to use the conclusion of the NAS to convince the GYIBC Executive Committee that the conclusion in its report was incorrect.   My mistake was in focusing on the
conclusion of the NAS report, which the GYIBC members remarkably said was consistent with their conclusion, instead of relying on the entire statement provided in the NAS report which I have provided below:

"Those six cases of purported transmission of brucellosis from wildlife to cattle are based on circumstantial evidence.  The facts were derived from field operations of the federal-state cooperative program to eliminate brucellosis from domestic cattle in the United States.  The data never were intended to meet the standard of scientific research, and inconsistent record retention resulted in further gaps in the documentation.   The cases were summarized after the fact, some without supporting documents, which were discarded in the meantime.  The only thing definite is that cattle in the herds tested positive for brucellosis.  Assuming that elk
and bison were in contact with cattle, there is no way to determine whether they were infective at the time and whether opportunity for transmission presented itself.   Similarly, the possibility of infection from cattle is difficult to eliminate entirely, because it is always hard to prove that an event did not happen.

Some observers have noted that in states that have eliminated brucellosis from cattle in the past, occasional outbreaks are typical for some time after a state has been declared class-free by APHIS.  That is because the disappearance function of the disease does not decline to zero at a constant rate but rather has a tail of gradually decreasing probability.  Given the pattern of outbreaks in cattle in the GYA, with no new cases since 1989, this area might simply be mimicking the temporal pattern observed elsewhere where transmission from wildlife was not an issue.  Or it could be maintained that the lack of outbreaks since 1989 is attributable to diligent cattle vaccination by rangers.  Given the ambiguity allowed by epidemiologic evidence in this situation, wildlife cannot be determined to be the source of brucellosis infection in these six cases."

Despite the claims of the GYIBC Executive Committee, I find it difficult to understand how "wildlife cannot be determined..." and that "wild elk or bison were the probable source ..." mean the same thing. 

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS

Ralph Maughan
Kim Steinbacher
Kevin Sanders
Steve Brashear
Clint Wilkes
Tim Gourley
Hon. Bob Gammage
Ruth Colter-Frick
Lee Whittlesey
Tom Mazzarisi
Russ Finley
David Monteith
Denise Elmer
Dr. Bob Bara

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) -- If you are planning a visit to Yellowstone this summer, now is the time to be making preparations, including your lodging and activity reservations.

Yellowstone Net Travel can take care of all your Yellowstone reservations, from lodging inside or outside the Park to activities inside and outside the Park.   Already, most lodging dates in the Park are filled, so you should be prepared to stay at one of the Park entrances.

For more information, be sure to visit the Yellowstone Net Travel website.

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Other than wildlife viewing and photography, picnicking in Yellowstone is one of the most popular activities for tourists.

In fact, there are many public picnic areas within Yellowstone ... 49 to be exact. Overnight camping is not allowed in any of these areas. Liquid fuel stoves may be used for cooking at all picnic areas. Fires may be built only in grates provided at Snake River, Grant Village, Bridge Bay, Cascade, Norris Meadows, Yellowstone River, Spring Creek, Nez Perce, and the east parking lot of Old Faithful. Most picnic areas have pit toilets, but none have drinking water.

What is the best picnic area in the Park?  My vote goes to the Buffalo Ford picnic area, just north of Lake Village on the banks of the Yellowstone River.

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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (YNET) -- Russ Finley's online multimedia Yellowstone tour has been selected as one of a handful of website finalists for RealNetworks Second Annual Streamers Award.  RealNetworks is the leading producer of streaming audio and video technology on the internet.  Tens of thousands of websites incorporate Real technology into their sites, and a select handful are chosen to compete for the prestigious Streamers Award, which has been called the "Academy Awards of the internet."  Russ Finley is the official photographer of the Yellowstone Net website, and his multimedia tour of Yellowstone is one of the most popular sections of the Yellowstone Net site.

RealNetworks is now seeking input from web surfers as they seek to further narrow down the field of candidates.  They have chosen judges for the award, including Jeff Bezos (CEO, Amazon.com) and Mark Cuban (President, Broadcast.com).  We would encourage you to visit the Yellowstone National Park "Online Multimedia Tour" or Russ Finley's homepage (www.yellowstone.net/russfinley) and cast your vote for the site.  The site includes a number of Yellowstone video clips, as well as the sounds of Yellowstone, free clipart and wallpaper, and much more.

You can visit the Online Multimedia Tour by going to www.yellowstone.net/multimedia.htm.    Follow the directions at the top of the page to vote for the site for the RealNetworks Second Annual Streamers Award.

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