| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
|
| News
Article 3/25/05 |
 |
| |
|
|
| State
sends three bison to slaughter
By Karin Ronnow, Bozeman Daily Chronicle
3/25/05 |
Three
of the six bison that were captured outside Yellowstone
National Park's western boundary this week tested positive
for brucellosis and were sent to slaughter, a Montana
Department of Livestock official confirmed Thursday.
"Six bison were captured on Monday the 21st and they
were tested on Tuesday," Karen Cooper, DOL spokeswoman
said. "Three tested negative and they were released
back onto Horse Butte, onto public land. Three were sent
to slaughter. The meat, heads and hides will go to tribal
organizations."
All six were held at Duck Creek, a permanent holding area
on private land near West Yellowstone. The brucellosis
tests were administered by federal veterinarians, Cooper
said.
Protesters with the Buffalo Field Campaign immediately
issued a statement.
"It's ironic that we're celebrating the release of
the new buffalo nickel at the same time we're harassing,
capturing and killing the last wild and genetically pure
buffalo left in the country as they begin their spring
migration," Mike Mease, a member of the group, said
in a press release.
Brucellosis is thought to cause domestic livestock to
abort their calves. Though there has not been a case of
bison transmitting the disease to cattle in the wild,
Montana's ranchers fear it happening.
The result is a complicated state and federal bison management
plan that calls for killing bison that get out of the
park and test positive for the disease.
The three that were sent to slaughter this week were bulls,
Cooper said.
That, too, prompted criticism from the Buffalo Field Campaign.
"If brucellosis is the real reason for the buffalo
harassment and slaughter, why do they keep killing bulls,
who pose zero risk of transmitting the disease?"
Stephany Seay, also a member of the group, said.
Since July 2004, the DOL has sent a total of six bison
to slaughter, Cooper said. Another 478 were hazed back
into the park.
The National Park Service killed one bison that was captured
outside Yellowstone's northern boundary, she said. "That
one was left for scavengers."
Top
of Page |
|
|
|
|
|
|
