| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| News
Article 2/18/04 |
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| Wandering
bison captured for testing
By MIKE STARK
Of The Gazette Staff
February 18, 2004
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In
the first action of its kind this winter, 18 bison were
captured outside Yellowstone National Park on Tuesday
and were being tested for brucellosis.
Those that have signs of the disease will be sent to slaughter
and the rest will be marked and set free, according to
Karen Cooper, a spokeswoman for the Montana Department
of Livestock.
The bison, a mix of calves, yearlings and adults, were
hazed into a pen just before noon Tuesday near Horse Butte,
west of Yellowstone. The bison were then loaded onto trailers
and trucked to another holding pen to be tested for brucellosis.
Cooper said some of the bison had been hazed back into
the park on Jan. 28, Feb. 5 and Feb. 13.
"These were some of the same animals. We could not
get them back in the park so today it was a capture operation,"
Cooper said.
Several agencies participated in the capture, including
the Department of Livestock, Montana Fish, Wildlife and
Parks, National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service.
Through a state and federal bison management plan, government
agents haze and sometimes capture bison that leave Yellowstone.
The plan is intended to reduce the risk that bison will
transmit brucellosis to cattle in the area.
Captured bison can be sent to slaughter without testing
for the disease when the population exceeds 3,000, according
to the plan. Park officials estimate there are currently
more than 4,200 bison in the park.
Last year, 231 bison were sent to slaughter after being
captured near the north end of Yellowstone.
The meat, head and hides of slaughtered bison are donated
to tribal groups and food banks.
Government agents have conducted several hazing operations
this year, particularly on the west side of Yellowstone.
Buffalo Field Campaign, a group that has opposed the hazing
and capture of bison, said Tuesday that the bison at Horse
Butte were captured by agents on snowmobiles assisted
by the use of loud cracker rounds fired into the air by
shotguns.
Members of the group said that the test used to determine
whether the bison have brucellosis only determines whether
the animals have antibodies for the disease, not an infection.
"It's like trying to eradicate chickenpox by killing
everyone who has been exposed," said Dan Brister,
a spokesman for the group.
Cooper said test results on the 18 bison were expected
late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Those that test negative
will be marked with a dark dye on the back. Those with
positive signs will be sent to slaughter.
Brucellosis is a highly contagious disease that can cause
abortions and other reproductive problems in elk, bison
and cattle.
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