BOZEMAN, MT- As another winter approaches without a permanent management plan for Yellowstone National Park bison, the state Livestock Department is again taking its case to the public. Director Marc Bridges on Friday issued an op-ed column to newspapers to remind the public that the agency is still abiding by an interim management plan - meaning park bison will likely be hazed, captured or possibly shot.

Livestock producers fear that there is a chance bison could transmit the disease brucellosis to cattle, which causes them to spontaneously abort. If contracted by humans, the disease causes undulant fever. There are currently about 2,500 bison in the park.

Bridges' column recalled the winter of 1996-97, when 1,100 bison were killed for disease control. "A harsh winter could push large numbers of bison out of the park, just as happened in the winter of 1996-97," Bridges wrote. Bison that leave the park into Montana are sometimes hazed back in. Other times they are captured and tested, with those showing no signs of brucellosis exposure being released. Sometimes, they are shot. "As long as more than half of Yellowstone's bison population tests positive for brucellosis, as long as the promise of sanctions hangs over Montana's largest industry, and as long as hungry bison emigrate to Montana's greener pastures, Montana must and will act in accordance with the federal-state plan," Bridges wrote. "To do less would waste more than 50 years and many millions of private dollars that Montana spent to rid itself of the dreaded disease of brucellosis," he continued. "Doing less could cripple Montana's largest industry and could renew the public health threat that prompted the national Brucellosis Eradication Program in 1934."

Last year, the agency spent about $15,000, raised by livestock producer fees, on publicity touting a similar message.

As the debate over bison management has raged on, the state, particularly the Livestock Department, has faced increasing criticism. State officials maintain Montana is caught in the middle between the Park Service, which allows the bison to leave the park, and federal animal inspectors who could take away Montana's brucellosis-free status if bison are allowed in Montana. Critics contend the state is being inflexible and is catering to the cattle industry.

"I think we're certainly under the scrutiny of a certain element of the general public that does not understand the situation or does not agree with it," Bridges said, adding that the column was meant to be a proactive approach.

However, a Park Service spokeswoman was somewhat taken aback by the tone of the column. "It's a little surprising that they would come out on the attack," Marsha Karle said, adding that various agencies have been trying to work together. She also said it is estimated that half the park's bison have been exposed to the disease, but that does not necessarily mean they have contracted it.

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