| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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Article 3/20/08 |
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Letter:
Yellowstone park no longer wild
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
3/20/08 |
It is time to accept Yellowstone National Park as
a glorified zoological park and its wildlife managed accordingly.
The National Park Service and state governments have established
artificial boundaries that are nothing more than a very
large "cage" for these animals. And to expect
wild animals to respect this invisible cage and remain
in the park is absurd.
Reasonable, realistic, and humane wildlife
management practices must be instituted to prevent their
wholesale slaughter. The premise that YNP is under the
exclusive control of Mother Nature is a falsehood. Allowing
wildfires to burn but preventing elk, bison, and other
wildlife from their natural migration and food-seeking
behaviors does not qualify as truly "wild" and
without human intervention. YNP is a zoological park and
the hungry animals must be fed.
Unless YNP's wildlife is allowed to
roam freely, then they are not wild, but captive. And
as captive animals unable to migrate and forage, they
must be supplied with adequate winter feed.
A natural balance of wildlife and forage
is not possible in an artificial environment such as YNP.
Do wild roaming bison have to run from snowmobiles
or rest in asphalt parking lots? Do wild roaming elk have
to look both ways before crossing the street?
If the NPS wants to continue to provide
the Yellowstone National Park experience and reap
the monetary benefits, then slaughtering the animals because
they are behaving like animals does not meet that end.
YNP is an incredible place, but it needs to be managed
as a zoological park. To keep the bison in the park,
provide them with the winter feed they would naturally
find outside of the park. This may temporarily impact
the "balance of nature," but what is the impact
of the slaughter of 1,000-plus bison on that balance?
Elizabeth Aghbashian
Manhattan
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