GENERAL POSITION STATEMENT ON WINTER FEEDING OF ELK AND OTHER WILD UNGULATES

The evidence is overwhelming that winter feeding of elk has proven to perpetuate and enhance the spread of diseases, especially brucellosis Once certain contagious diseases become endemic within a population of elk, bison or other wildlife, they become very difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate. Consequently, promotion or initiation of new wildlife feeding grounds in the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming would be contrary to the mission statement and goals of the Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee (GYIBC).

Creation of additional feeding grounds that concentrate elk within or adjacent to the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) would almost certainly result in additional disease problems, especially brucellosis, and cause expansion of the current brucellosis problem and an additional major expense to state and federal agencies. Aside from the increased number of brucellosis-infected wildlife, the costs associated with feeding and disease control, and the risk of transmission to livestock and other wild ruminants on public lands, would also increase. The potential human health risk would also rise.

Therefore, the GYIBC strongly recommends that winter feeding of elk should be discouraged, and no additional public or private feedgrounds be established in the Greater Yellowstone Area. Establishment of emergency or permanent feedgrounds for other wild ungulates, which may act as an attractive nuisance and concentrate elk or bison, is likewise discouraged.

Adopted by the
Greater Yellowstone Brucellosis Committee
September, 1994