JACKSON - Two prominent Jackson ranchers say it may be time to reassess how much of a problem brucellosis really is.

Kelly Lockhart and Brad Mead, speaking this week to about 50 people at an event sponsored by the Jackson Hole Land Trust, said perhaps it should be up to ranchers to decide if they want to live with the disease.

"What if we did say, 'You know, this really isn't going to cause that much harm and that much damage,"' Lockhart said, adding the idea was not his originally. "There would be ramifications, obviously. You might have more difficulty marketing cattle. Maybe producers wouldn't choose to do that. But at least they would have a choice. Right now, you don't have a choice."

Mead, the grandson of former U.S. Sen. and Gov. Cliff Hansen, said the risk of brucellosis transmission to humans, which can cause undulant fever, is minimized now that people drink pasteurized milk, among other reasons.

"Fundamentally, it seems to me we have to revisit the notion that we're going to reduce or eliminate brucellosis," he said. "I don't think most wildlife people consider brucellosis to be that much of a problem."

Brucellosis is a bacterial disease that can cause ungulates to abort their first calves. It can be transmitted from wild animals to cattle, as was the case in Wyoming two years ago when the state lost its brucellosis-free status.

Bret Combs, area veterinarian in charge for the federal Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service in Cheyenne, flatly denied the agency would consider revisiting the fight against brucellosis.

"APHIS is still firmly committed to eradicating brucellosis from the United States," Combs said.