Brucellosis is a bacterial disease caused by Brucella abortus. Infections cause female ungulates to abort their calves and produce "undulant fever" in humans. Efforts to eliminate brucellosis in livestock began in 1934 and for a brief time in early 2008, cattle in all 50 states were considered free of the disease. Before the disease was controlled in livestock, however, it spread to bison and elk in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, the last place where brucellosis remains endemic in the United States.

In spite of broad support from sportsmen and conservation organizations, the Sportsmen's Act of 2012 (S. 3525) failed to clear its final procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate in late November, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. Bill sponsors have continued working to find resolution to the primary stumbling blocks but time is almost fully off the clock to move the bill in this Congress, leading to a grudging acceptance that the bill will have to wait until the 113^th Congress for consideration.

Negotiations to address the looming "fiscal cliff" are currently consuming all the oxygen in Washington, DC. As a result, it appears that the best hope of passing the 2012 Farm Bill in this Congress is to incorporate it into a larger legislative package that addresses taxes and entitlements, according to the Wildlife Management Institute.

There became notably less energy, intelligence and charisma in the wildlife profession and the entire world with the loss of Dr. Guy A. Baldassarre in late August. Guy passed away peacefully at his home in Tully, New York, from complications due to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at the age of 59.