| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| News
Article 4/19/06 |
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| LTE:
Governor would have hunters take over bison slaughter
By BFC volunteer, Kalanu!
4/19/06 |
At Wednesday's [April 12] meeting with West Yellowstone
landowners, Gov. Brian Schweitzer said that he would like
to see a larger bison hunt in order to reduce the
herd to a manageable size.
What exactly is a manageable size for
this herd? We've already learned that no matter what size
the herd is, the bison will continue to migrate out
of the park in the winter and spring. Would the governor
have them hunted until there were none left?
The Park Service has slaughtered more
than 950 bison this year, and winter kill has claimed
hundreds more.
At this rate, if we were to hunt every
bison leaving the park, we'd exterminate the herd
in less than four years.
It seems that the real purpose to this
plan is to save the state money, not show the bison a
greater tolerance in Montana, as the governor once claimed
to have wanted.
Instead of the Department of Livestock
slaughtering a natural treasure, the task would fall to
an army of private hunters.
The governor is mistaken if he thinks
that killing almost a thousand bison has not created
anger in this country. Fortunately for Montana, the national
media coverage that this year's hunt attracted also managed
to distract attention from the near record slaughter inside
the park.
If next year's hunt replaces the efforts
of the DOL and the Park Service, the governor will surely
learn what bad press is all about.
Kalanu Johnson
West Yellowstone
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