JACKSON (AP) -- A handful of stray cattle owned by a rancher with former ties to a white supremacist church will be tested for brucellosis after sharing feed with elk in the Gros Ventre mountains.

While it is unlikely elk would transmit the disease to cattle at this time of year, "we don't want to take a chance," state veterinarian Jim Logan said. "We'll definitely have a test when the timing is appropriate."

Brucellosis is a contagious disease that can affect cattle, elk and humans. It typically causes cattle to abort and can result in fever in humans.

The disease is most often spread through aborted tissue, and since elk are not aborting this time of year, disease transmission is unlikely, Logan said. But the cattle should be moved quickly because elk may begin aborting this month.

Rancher Rudy Stanko said the strays were not a big deal. Most are steers, castrated males not typically tested for brucellosis because they are unlikely to transmit the disease.

"If they're males, what's the problem?," he said. "If there is a female, they'll test it.

"I'm a gambling man. I'll bet you 100-to-one they'll test negative."

Stanko, who once called himself a leader of the World Church of the Creator, received media attention after asking Fremont County for permission to eradicate wolves on his son's grazing allotments in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. He said the wolves were killing cattle.

The animals are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Wyoming Outdoor Council representative Meredith Taylor said Stanko is gambling with the state's brucellosis-free status.

"Here you have animals that are nose to tail with the elk on feedgrounds," she said. "Is Wyoming going to lose its brucellosis-free status because we have trespass cattle on a temporary allotment?"

Stanko's wranglers were attempting to remove the cattle after the U.S. Forest Service granted him a four-day permit to get the animals.

Game and Fish warden Bill Long said four cows were moved off the feedground last week. It's estimated eight cows are in the area.