| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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Article 1/26/05 |
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Schweitzer
gets bison advice
By Jennifer McKee
Billings Gazette
1/26/05 |
HELENA
- Montana should use science, not slaughter,
to solve the problem of brucellosis in Yellowstone National
Park's bison herd, a bison activist group told Gov. Brian
Schweitzer Tuesday.
Flo Gardipee, a doctoral student in fish and wildlife
biology at the University of Montana, told Schweitzer
that new discoveries show that tiny viruses called bacteriophages
could be used to target the bacteria that cause brucellosis.
"Test and slaughter and quarantine, these are outdated
approaches,'' said Gardipee, who is also an adviser to
the Buffalo Field Campaign, a West Yellowstone group that
advocates for Yellowstone's wild bison. Science offers
"novel approaches and cutting edge technology'' to
deal with brucellosis, she said.
The group called the meeting because Schweitzer recently
outlined his idea to permanently rid the Yellowstone bison
herd of brucellosis by removing all the infected animals
in the park by gradually quarantining many of the animals.
Brucellosis is a disease that causes heifers to abort
their first calves. Between 2 percent and 20 percent of
the 4,200 bison in the park are thought to have the disease.
Although no bison has ever been known to transmit the
disease to cattle in the wild, the state has been adamant
about keeping bison and cattle from mingling. Right now,
Montana is classified as a brucellosis-free state. But
if only a handful of cattle caught brucellosis from Yellowstone's
bison, the state could lose that status.
Schweitzer's original idea involved expanding the range
of bison to include parcels outside Yellowstone Park and
finding a more exact brucellosis test. Most significantly,
it called for the gradual quarantine of all Yellowstone
bison. Over a period of years, all bison would be moved
through an as yet unbuilt quarantine facility. Animals
that do not test positive for the disease would be adopted
to tribes or private landowners. Animals testing positive
would be hunted or destroyed. For a brief time - perhaps
90 days - Yellowstone would have no bison. Then, the herd
would be reconstituted from either the bison adopted out
of the park or their descendants.
The Buffalo Field Campaign vigorously opposed the idea
of temporarily de-populating Yellowstone of bison.
Currently, animals that wander out of the park are either
hazed back into Yellowstone or rounded up and tested for
brucellosis. Those that are positive are destroyed while
those that do not have the disease are released.
Several members of the group told Schweitzer the current
system just doesn't work. Elk and other wild animals are
sometimes caught up in the hazing and animals that cannot
spread the disease are also hazed.
Schweitzer agreed the current system is futile. He said
that the state should expand its bison herd, perhaps by
adopting healthy animals out to the tribes.
"With just one little island of bison, we're really
betting on a lot here,'' Schweitzer said.
In an interview after the meeting, Schweitzer said he's
committed to somehow finding a sustainable solution to
the brucellosis problem as well as maintaining Montana's
brucellosis-free status.
Solving the brucellosis problem may not require rounding
up all the bison in Yellowstone, but eventually he wants
to see a Yellowstone with a bison herd that cannot spread
brucellosis to surrounding livestock.
For example, male bison and sterile females cannot spread
brucellosis, even if they have the disease. Those animals
need not be removed from the park or destroyed, Schweitzer
said.
"I want to probe until we can find solutions that
are sustainable,'' he said.
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