| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| News
Article 2/24/04 |
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| Corralled
bison get tests today
By MIKE STARK
Billings Gazette Staff
February 24, 2004
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Thirty-three
bison were captured on the north end of Yellowstone National
Park on Saturday. Their fate will likely be decided soon.
The bison are expected to be tested today for signs of
brucellosis, a highly contagious disease that can cause
abortions and other serious problems in bison, cattle
and elk. Those that test negative will remain in a holding
pen and be released in the spring.
Those that test positive will be sent to slaughter, probably
on Wednesday, according to park officials.
The bison were captured as part of a state and federal
program to reduce the risk of spreading brucellosis in
the area.
The plan allows wandering bison to be hazed back into
the park or, if they're captured, to be sent to slaughter
without being tested if the herd population exceeds 3,000.
A count earlier this winter estimated the herd at about
4,200.
Last week, 18 bison were captured outside Yellowstone's
western border. Ten were sent to slaughter and eight were
released inside the park after they were marked with a
dye.
On Saturday, 33 were trapped at the Stephens Creek facility
as they wandered toward Yellowstone's northern border.
Park staff, probably this week, will also begin a long-term
brucellosis vaccination program for bison yearlings and
calves held at the Stephens Creek pen.
The practice of hazing and capturing bison has been controversial
for years, especially after more than 1,000 animals were
sent to slaughter in the winter of 1996-97 and 231 were
killed last March.
Critics say the program is misguided, especially because
there has not been a case of wild bison transmitting brucellosis
to cattle.
But ranchers and others say the risk of losing brucellosis-free
status for Montana cattle warrants the program.
This weekend the Buffalo Field Campaign, a group that
advocates protections for the bison, emphasized that none
of the 33 bison captured Saturday actually left Yellowstone.
"These park rangers have no right wearing buffalo
on their badges as they haze and capture the buffalo they're
entrusted with protecting," Mike Mease, the group's
spokesman, said in a statement. "If buffalo are not
safe in Yellowstone, then where are they safe?"
The meat, heads and hides of the slaughtered bison are
donated to tribal groups and social service organizations.
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