The Salt Lake Tribune made note that its neighbors in Wyoming are expanding their State Veterinary Lab from a "biosafety level two" to a "level three." The buzz about it, though, focused on the hope that the move would leave to a better vaccine against brucellosis, a disease that causes pregnant cattle to abort their fetuses.The disease turned up in a Wyoming herd last year, and the state's cattle industry risks losing its federal brucellosis-free status and stricter testing requirements if it turns up again. http://www.sltrib.com/nationworld/ci_12678658
The Trib also reports that wildlife conservation groups lodged protests against a $1.3 million quarterly oil and gas lease sale in the Fillmore, Price and Vernal regions. A conservation partnership noted the BLM has deferred auctioning lease parcels in the Fillmore region out of concern for sage grouse and Bonneville cutthroat trout. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership argues mule deer and elk deserve the same deference. http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=12674661&siteId=297
Meanwhile, closer to home, the Salt Lake County Council is stymied on how best to allow residents to build backyard chicken coops. It refused to pass a proposal that would have required a coop to be built like "maximum-security prison" and instead passed the proposal over to it public-works subcommittee for revision. http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=12675079&siteId=297
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