| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| News
Article 2/06/04 |
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| Montana
prepares for roaming buffalo
By BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press
Billings Gazette
February 6, 2004
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BILLINGS-
Montana livestock officials on Thursday began preparing
to
capture bison that leave Yellowstone National Park and
enter the
state near West Yellowstone.
The preparations, which included building pens, immediately
sparked
criticism from conservationists who say the move signals
the state's
intention to slaughter more of the beasts.
But Karen Cooper, a spokeswoman for the state Department
of
Livestock, said Thursday that officials just want to be
prepared for
bison that leave the park and cannot be hazed back.
"If it's needed, we're ready to go," she said.
Ted Fellman, a spokesman for the Buffalo Field Campaign,
said the
structures being built would make it easier for state
officials to
capture the animals.
"And if they can capture them, it's not too hard
to slaughter them," he said.
Bison that stray from Yellowstone are a big concern for
Montana
ranchers and livestock officials because of the disease
brucellosis,
which can cause cattle to abort and can cause undulant
fever in
humans.
Many of the park's bison are believed to carry brucellosis,
and
ranchers fear that they will spread it to cattle herds
and threaten
Montana's brucellosis-free status.
Under an interagency bison management plan, authorities
try to haze
any bison that enter Montana back in to the park. Those
that cannot
be herded back are captured and tested for brucellosis.
Bison testing
positive are sent to slaughter.
However, if the park's population exceeds 3,000 animals
by late
winter, the plan allows for straying bison to be killed
without being
tested first.
The population is estimated at 4,200.
Officials on Thursday killed a bull bison near Gardiner,
outside the
park's northern boundary. Cooper said the animal was on
private
property and was shot because it could not be hazed back
to the park.
The Buffalo Field Campaign disputed that, saying its members
saw
nothing to indicate that officials tried to haze the animal
back to
the park.
Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., in a letter Thursday to
the National
Park Service director, urged the Park Service to refuse
to
participate in any bison killings. (Read the letter here,
it is a PDF)
Cooper said representatives of both the state Livestock
Department
and Park Service were present when the bison was killed
Thursday.
Cooper and Cheryl Matthews, a park spokeswoman, said hazing
operations have been conducted at both the western and
northern
boundaries of the park this winter, although so far the
number of
animals involved has been small.
Last winter, about 240 bison, most of which were captured
near the
northern park boundary, were sent to slaughter, according
to figures
from the state Department of Livestock.
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