Wyoming Moose, Cattle Test Positive for Anthrax

Wyoming wildlife officials in early September confirmed a case of anthrax in a deceased bull moose found in Carbon County, the first detection of the disease in wildlife since 1956. The report comes just days after the Wyoming Livestock Board notified the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish that cattle near Elk Mountain had tested positive for the disease.

The Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory confirmed anthrax in multiple beef herds in Carbon County on August 31, according to a press release from the Wyoming Livestock Board, the first confirmed cases in Wyoming cattle since the 1970s.  

Anthrax is a naturally occurring bacterial disease that can be transmitted between livestock, wildlife and humans, though it most commonly infects herbivores. The bacterial spores can persist in soil for years, sometimes centuries, with sporadic outbreaks that typically follow periods of heat and drought with subsequent heavy rainfall, conditions prevalent in the region this summer.

Both domestic and wild animals can contract anthrax by inhaling or ingesting spores from contaminated soil, vegetation or water. In livestock, symptoms of anthrax include, weakness, stumbling, difficulty breathing, fever, bloody diarrhea and death.

Dr. Samantha Allen, state wildlife veterinarian for Wyoming, told Mountain Journal that the recent detection of anthrax in a moose is currently the only documented case reported in wildlife. The last confirmed case of the disease in wildlife in Wyoming was in 1956 in a moose found in Sublette County. 

“For right now, this seems to be pretty locally isolated to where these animals were found,” Allen said. "We haven’t had a case in about a week now, so the risk is low, but we are asking folks to take precautions."

The Department of Game and Fish in a recent statement urged hunters and the public to avoid approaching dead wildlife or livestock. They recommend wearing gloves when field dressing or handling harvested animals, keeping pets away from carcasses, and reporting to the department any deceased wildlife, including a GPS pin to mark the location.

Human exposure is rare, Allen says, and cases of hunters contracting anthrax most often occur through skin-to-skin contact with an animal and fluid transmission through an open wound or cut. 

Individuals can report a wildlife disease incident online or call the Game and Fish Wildlife Health Laboratory at (307) 745-5865.

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