CHEYENNE - The Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) is notifying the public that for the third year elk tested positive for brucellosis in the Bighorn Mountains of northern Wyoming.

As was the case in 2012 and 2013, Game and Fish confirmed two elk blood tests were positive. Both elk, one bull and one cow, were harvested by hunters during the 2014 hunting season. Past cases have all come from samples submitted by hunters harvesting elk in hunt area 40. This year, one was in elk hunt area 40 and the other close by on the south end of elk hunt area 39.

Hunters submitted blood samples to the Game and Fish as part of the department's enhanced brucellosis surveillance program in the Bighorn Mountains. Through this program, samples are collected from hunters in the fall and early winter, then analyzed at the Game and Fish lab throughout the winter.

"Our surveillance program is helpful for cattle producers to ensure they are aware of those areas where presence of the disease has been detected," said WGFD Chief Game Warden Brian Nesvik. "These positive blood tests do not necessarily confirm an individual elk is infected, but that the animal was exposed to the bacteria sometime in the past. We will continue to sample for brucellosis in this area in future elk hunting seasons. To date it does not appear that the disease is becoming more prevalent in the area."

Brucellosis has not been documented in livestock in this area.

The Wyoming Brucellosis Coordination Team will meet this week in Worland. These new cases in elk will be on the team's meeting agenda.

For more information on brucellosis, visit: wyomingbrucellosis.com.

(Contact: Renny MacKay (307) 777-4594)