| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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Article 12/05/04 |
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| Livestock
department proposes vaccinating bison that leave Yellowstone
Associated Press
Billings Gazette
12/05/04
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BILLINGS
- The Montana Department of Livestock is proposing
that some of the bison that leave Yellowstone National
Park be vaccinated, a move intended to help reduce the
potential spread of brucellosis.
The plan has upset some activists, who question the vaccine's
efficacy and view a vaccination program as a waste of
money.
The department prepared an environmental assessment that
proposes vaccinating calves and yearlings that leave the
park's western boundary and enter the state. Vaccination
would take place "opportunistically," the document
says, as a part of bison management activities. Wandering
bison could still be captured, though the department said
it does not propose stepping up capture operations as
a way to boost the number of bison available for vaccination.
Comments on the proposed plan are being taken through
Jan. 5. The department said it expects to make a decision
by Jan. 31.
If approved, a program could be in place this winter,
department spokeswoman Karen Cooper said Monday.
This wouldn't be the first time that Yellowstone bison
have been vaccinated, but it is the first time the state
of Montana has proposed vaccinating those that leave the
park.
Last winter, federal officials began vaccinating some
bison inside the park, near Yellowstone's northern boundary.
Officials plan to continue that program this year, said
Rick Wallen, a wildlife biologist at Yellowstone.
The debate over bison heats up each winter, when some
of the bison leave Yellowstone in search of forage. Ranchers
in Montana worry that bison will transmit brucellosis,
a disease that can cause cattle to abort. But activists
contend that there has not been a documented case of transmission
from bison to cattle in the wild.
A joint state-federal management plan allows for the hazing
and capture of bison that leave the park and for the testing
of the animals for brucellosis. Bison testing positive
are sent to slaughter.
Mike Mease of the Buffalo Field Campaign, a group of bison
defenders, questions the efficacy of vaccine proposed
and the cost of implementing a vaccination program.
"Why throw taxpayer money down the drain to keep
a handful of ranchers happy?" he said.
He believes an emphasis should be placed on managing livestock,
rather than attempting to manage wildlife.
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