Wyoming Game and Fish accepted 1,130 blood samples to help with the state’s brucellosis testing program in 2020. Over the years Wyoming has contained to test for the disease in both elk and bison. Brucellosis is a bacterial disease that can affect bison, elk, and cattle. The Wyoming Game and Fish along with the federal government created a program to combat brucellosis. Due to this program, they have nearly eliminated the disease in cattle. However, both elk and bison infections still present a possibility of the disease spreading.
During 2020, the WGFD focused on testing elk in three regions of the state. The three regions are as follows, The southeastern part of the state, the north-central part of the state, and the southwestern part of the state. Below we will list the units that Wyoming took samples from.
- The southeastern region includes units 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 21, 108, 110, 114, 125, and 130.
- Most of the testing came from the north-central region as it has the most units included in the testing program. Those units are as follows, units 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 45, 47, 48, 49, 54, 58, 61, 62, 63, 64, 120, and 127 are all apart of the testing program in 2020.
- The southwestern region includes units 25, 27, 28, 100, 106, and 107.
“As a thank-you to hunters who submitted blood samples and other information from targeted areas, each complete submission was entered into a raffle to win high-quality outdoor equipment.” – Wyoming Game and Fish Department
The WGFD credits the raffle giveaway program as to why they were able to receive so many blood samples. Any hunter that submitted a sample to the Dept. was entered into a giveaway raffle managed by the state. The raffle program gives away high-quality hunting gear to ten lucky hunters that submit a sample to the state. We covered the prizes involved in this raffle last fall. You can read about the program by clicking here.
So, what are your thoughts about Wyoming accepting 1,130 brucellosis samples? Have you ever had an elk test positive for brucellosis? Let us know in the comments!
