| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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Article 3/1/04 |
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| Yellowstone
Bison Captured for Slaughter Inside Park
Environmental News Service
March 1, 2004
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GARDINER,
Montana, March 1, 2004 (ENS) - Federal and Montana
state officials have captured 163 Yellowstone bison and
slaughtered 53 during the past 10 days. The actions were
taken under the guidelines of a controversial federal/state
management plan that allows the slaughtering of bison
that wander outside the boundaries of Yellowstone National
Park, but activists protective of the buffalo say all
these animals were captured inside the
park.
"Yellowstone used to be a wildlife sanctuary,"
said Dan Brister, project coordinator of the Buffalo Field
Campaign. "Under the watch of Superintendent Suzanne
Lewis it has been transformed into a buffalo slaughter
facility set up to do the bidding of Montana's livestock
industry,"
Of the 163 bison captured during the past 10 days, none
had left the park, according to the Buffalo Field Campaign
(BFC), which is the only organization working in the field
to stop the slaughter of Yellowstone's wild buffalo.
According to a statement issued by the National Park Service,
the current slaughter is designed to keep buffalo "away
from cattle grazing adjacent to the park." Requests
for additional comment by the Park Service and the Montana
Department of Livestock went unanswered.
The management plan allows state officials to slaughter
bison that wander out of the park in the winter when the
overall herd exceeds 3,000. Park officials currently estimate
some 4,200 animals in the herd. This winter 173 bison
have been captured, 63 slaughtered and two shot in the
field.
Officials are required to try and haze the animals back
into the park, but if that fails they are authorized to
capture the bison and test them for brucellosis.
In 2003, some 231 bison from the Yellowstone herd were
killed because of the fear they could infect cattle with
brucellosis - a fear that critics say is unfounded.
There has never been a documented case of brucellosis
transmission from wild bison to livestock, and critics
say the test used by the Montana Department of Livestock
is unreliable.
According to state officials, the 53 animals sent to slaughter
this year tested positive for exposure to the bacterial
disease, which can cause spontaneous abortion and stillborn
calves.
The test determines the presence of antibodies - not active
infection - and bison are capable of developing natural
resistance to brucellosis after being exposed, conservationists
say.
"We are deeply troubled that Yellowstone's buffalo,
the symbol of the American West, have once again been
subjected to a hysteria based slaughter," said Jeff
Leitner, public policy coordinator for The Fund for Animals.
"Our federal agencies, in a pact with agents from
the state of Montana, are managing the fragile Yellowstone
buffalo herd out of fear. Our
tax dollars should not support this horrible act."
The bison that test negative for exposure to brucellosis
are being held for release in the spring - some have been
vaccinated as part of the management plan's long term
vaccination program.
The vaccine is known to be more effective in livestock,
but it did not prevent the infection of Wyoming cattle,
who contracted brucellosis from elk in January.
Elk, which far outnumber bison, are permitted to range
beyond the park and are not considered a brucellosis concern
by federal or state agencies.
But concerning the bison management plan, state officials
say the economic risk of infection, which could cause
the state to lose its certification as "brucellosis
free," justifies the policy.
Critics argue that no cattle graze on lands adjacent to
Yellowstone during the winter. They contend killing the
bison is not about science, but rather about land use
and politics.
The Yellowstone herd should be afforded the upmost protection,
conservationists add, because it is descended from 25
wild bison that survived the mass eradication of the 19th
century. It is the largest remaining single population
of genetically pure bison. "The Park Service is mandated
to protect the buffalo unimpaired for future generations.
Instead they are doing the dirty work of the Montana livestock
industry and eroding the wildness of this national treasure,"
Brister said. "Yellowstone should be a sanctuary
for wildlife, not a slaughterhouse." In recent years
a group of 52 Indian tribes has offered to take the excess
bison to roam on Indian reservations, but Montana state
officials say the brucellosis concern is too great to
allow the bison out of the park. Millions of bison once
roamed across the Great Plains of the United States and
the animal has deep cultural significance to many Native
American tribes.
Although Park Service officials downplay the fear, there
is concern this culling of the herd could damage the genetic
diversity of the bison within Yellowstone. The overall
population consists of several smaller groups, and conservationists
worry that the rounding up of migrating groups could wipe
out entire genetic strains.
There are signs that the U.S. Congress is hearing the
concerns of conservationists regarding the management
of the Yellowstone bison herd. Legislation now before
the U.S. House of Representatives would allow Yellowstone
bison to use public lands for winter forage adjacent to
the park. Proposed by Congressman Maurice Hinchey, a New
York Democrat, and Charles Bass, a New Hampshire Republican,
the federal "Yellowstone Buffalo Preservation Act"
has 60 cosponsors to date. It has been referred to the
House Committee on Resources.
If passed into law, the Yellowstone buffalo herd would
be allowed to freely roam the park and the federal lands
adjacent to Yellowstone National Park on the north and
west boundaries without being hazed. These lands would
be made available exclusively for buffalo and wildlife
use, and include the Gallatin National Forest, where the
BFC says hazing activities are now interfering with other
wildlife such as the bald eagle.
The National Park Service would disassemble the Stephens
Creek Buffalo Capture Facility if the bill becomes law.
Management authority of the Yellowstone buffalo herd within
the park would
be under the sole jurisdiction of the National Park Service.
Today the management plan is carried out under the jurisdiction
of four agencies, both federal and state - The National
Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service, both divisions of
the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, and the state of Montana.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2004. All Rights
Reserved.
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