| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| News
Article 3/31/05 |
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| Three
yearling bison sent to quarantine
By Karin Ronnow, Bozeman Daily Chronicle Staff Writer
3/31/05 |
State
livestock officials captured 14 bison that had wandered
out of Yellowstone National Park this week and sent eight
of them to slaughter, but for the first time also sent
three yearlings to a new quarantine facility in Corwin
Springs.
All of the bison were captured near West Yellowstone and
tested for brucellosis. The eight that tested positive,
six cows and two bulls, were sent to slaughter, according
to Montana Department of Livestock spokeswoman Karen Cooper.
Three others, one bull and two cows, tested negative and
were released on public land.
The three yearlings, however, tested negative and will
be the first subjects in a bison quarantine feasibility
study, according to Dr. Tom Linfield, Montana state veterinarian.
The quarantine facility, which is on a former elk ranch,
was approved by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife
and Parks in January.
The plan is to accept 200 bison calves over the next two
years and continue to test them for brucellosis to make
sure they are free of the disease. Brucellosis tests are
not considered foolproof.
The long-term goal is to use the healthy animals as "seed
stock for bison conservation projects," according
to FWP.
"There are strict state and federal regulations prohibiting
the movement or relocation of brucellosis-infected bison,"
Cooper said in a prepared statement. "However, under
stringent quarantine procedures ... animals that test
negative for the disease can be held for a sufficient
period until they qualify as disease-free."
In addition to the 14 bison captured this week, another
216 were hazed back into the park.
Also, a cow bison that had been hit by a car was killed
by FWP officials.
"This female bison was hit by a car three weeks ago
and had a broken front leg and shoulder and, just like
we do with other animals that have been hit by cars, we
put them down," Melissa Frost, information officer
for FWP Region 3, said Wednesday.
It took three weeks because until recently, "she
was far away from anywhere that was practical to do it,"
Frost said.
The Buffalo Field Campaign, which protests the hazing
and killing of the park bison, said in a press release
that agents had "shot and killed an injured, pregnant
lead buffalo" and then took her to the dump "to
be incinerated like trash."
But Frost said that FWP Warden Jim Smolczynski "assessed
the situation and thought she needed to be put down, that
she would not survive. He doesn't know if she was pregnant.
He didn't check."
As for taking the carcass to the dump, Frost said, "We
can't send an injured animal to the processing facility
and we can't leave it out in the field because of grizzly
bears. The dump is the only option."
DOL posts regular updates of its bison management operations
online at www.liv.state.mt.us.
Information on the bison quarantine facility can be found
on FWP's Web site, www.fwp.state.mt.us.
And the Buffalo Field Campaign posts its notices at www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.
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