| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| News
Article 3/19/04 |
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| Spend
bison slaughter money on real solution
by Glenn Hockett
Op Ed- Bozeman Daily Chronicle
March 19, 2004
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The
government is taking our wildlife. Is it worth it and
for what?
These are two questions reasonable people are asking about
our government's bison slaughter program.
We spend more than $3 million annually, hazing, confining
and slaughtering wild bison both within and near Yellowstone
National Park. Supposedly, we do this to protect the livestock
industry's brucellosis-free status. However, the government
will likely begin killing wild bison regardless of their
disease status (Bozeman Chronicle, March 16). In reality,
few domestic cattle use the area and most of them belong
to the Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT).
Supposedly the CUT moved to Montana for "spiritual
renewal" and to live in harmony with the environment.
Unfortunately, the consequences of their land use and
management choices near Yellowstone National Park have
led to everything but renewal and harmony. As well, the
Department of Livestock (DOL), the agency responsible
for regulating livestock in Montana, turns its back on
reckless livestock husbandry practices that unnecessarily
threaten the entire industry. If DOL doesn't care, why
should we?
The Wyoming livestock industry lost its brucellosis-free
status. Interestingly, brucellosis was probably transferred
to cattle from wild elk. Regardless, has the sky fallen
in Wyoming? No. Dr. Jim Logan, Wyoming's state veterinarian,
notes 100,000 to 300,000 livestock will be tested in Wyoming
(Belgrade News, Feb. 24). At $5 per test, a worst-case
scenario leads to an annual cost of $1.5 million.
Oh, by the way, taxpayers picked up the tab there. We
could do the same here. The cost of testing cattle in
Wyoming is half the cost of our government-run bison slaughter
program, and cattle testing is much more humane. Let's
spend the $1.5 million we save each year on habitat, a
real solution.
Of course, wild bison have never transmitted brucellosis
to cattle in the wild, so the questions remain -- IS IT
WORTH IT AND FOR WHAT? When the DOL, CUT and our government
turn their backs on reasonable solutions, one has to wonder.
Glenn Hockett
President, Gallatin Wildlife Association
Montana director, Western Watersheds Project
Bozeman
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