HELENA, Mont. -- Naturally occurring anthrax on Ted Turner's Flying D Ranch has killed dozens of his bison and led workers to disinfect the ground, burn some of the carcasses in a boxcar-size incinerator and bury others.

Deaths rose to 175 bison on Thursday, according to the Montana Department of Livestock, which said the mortality likely would taper off in a couple of days. The agency announced the outbreak last week.

"It's just a day-by-day situation," Turner Enterprises spokesman Phillip Evans said Thursday from Atlanta, where Turner's media empire is based. Evans said there are just more than 4,000 bison on the ranch south of Bozeman.

Turner has 45,000 bison and raises them on 14 of his 15 ranches in seven states. Bison meat from Turner's ranches is served at his Ted's Montana Grill restaurants.

Flying D bison meat from slaughters harvested before the anthrax problem surfaced was taken out of circulation, said state epidemiologist Kammy Johnson. She added that meat from a sick animal would have to be insufficiently cooked to pose any potential food risk.

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said anthrax also was suspected in the death of a black bear on the ranch.

Agency spokesman Ron Aasheim said wild animals there would be monitored to help determine whether there are other deaths possibly linked to anthrax.

The anthrax in the ground is different from that in the 2001 anthrax crimes that killed five people and grabbed headlines again with investigators' conclusion that the perpetrator was a Fort Detrick, Md., scientist who killed himself last week.

Anthrax spores can lie dormant in soil for decades and then become active.

Animals are exposed by consuming forage or water contaminated by the spores. Anthrax can spread from animals to humans, but the chance of that happening is extremely rare, said Steve Helgerson, Montana's state medical officer.

Anthrax outbreaks in livestock are not uncommon.

"It was in Saskatchewan just a couple of weeks ago," said Steve Merritt of the Department of Livestock. "It happens in livestock on a regular basis." He said the risk of one anthrax-stricken animal sickening another animal is low.

Turner's 175 deaths are more than in Montana's last anthrax case but the number is not "super huge," Merritt said. He said "hot spots," where bison were found dead on the ground, were being disinfected with bleach.

Part of the Turner ranch is quarantined, and a county-and-federal road through the property is closed. The road provides the main access to the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, a popular destination for hikers and others.

"On an August weekend you can have 40 or 50 horse trailers up there (at the trail access) and a couple of hundred cars," said Gallatin County Commissioner Bill Murdock. "I'm surprised the public has not been calling us and complaining about the road closure."

On the Net:

• Turner Enterprises: http://www.tedturner.com/enterprises/ranches.asp

• Department of Livestock: www.liv.mt.gov