| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| News
Article 4/03/09 |
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O P I N I O N: Shipping of bison to Wyoming a milestone
Editorial Board Members
Bozeman Daily Chronicle |
Stephanie
Pressly, Publisher Nick Ehli, Managing Editor Bill Wilke,
Opinion Page Editor Karin Ronnow, Assistant Managing Editor
Bridget Cavanaugh, Community Member Doug Chandler, Community
Member Lori Lawson, Community Member Les Loble Community
Member
The shipping of quarantined Yellowstone Park bison from
Paradise Valley to a Wyoming Indian reservation should
be noted as a significant milestone in Montana's long
and frustrating struggle with the wandering beasts.
Last month, state wildlife officials OK'd a plan to send
41 bison to the Wind River Reservation. The captive bison
have been rigorously tested for brucellosis over the last
several years, and state wildlife officials are certain
they pose no threat of infection to domestic animals.
Brucellosis is a disease that can cause livestock to abort
their calves, and the state ranching industry has staunchly
- if illogically - opposed any plans to let the animals
roam outside the park quarantined or not.
Forty-one bison is not a big number, and the program that
produced them has been long, expensive and controversial.
But the event should be greeted as good news for two reasons:
One, it marks a small but significant beginning to a program
that promises to restore this emblematic species of wildlife
to other parts of the West; and, two, it proves the viability
of a bison-management plan that is preferable to the haze,
shoot and slaughter policy that has blemished Montana's
image in the eyes of the nation.
For evidence that the issue continues to be controversial,
one need look no farther than Helena, where lawmakers
in the ongoing session considered a bill to prevent any
quarantined bison from being released in Montana. The
bill was shelved in committee last week but there will
likely be efforts to revive it.
The ag industry continues to fear park bison, even though
there's never been a documented case of transmission of
the disease from bison to cattle in the field. The few
livestock cases that have surfaced in recent years have
been blamed on elk, some of which are known to be infected.
State wildlife officials are emphatic about the safety
of the quarantined bison, and there's no reason they shouldn't
continue to be used to spread the genetics of the last
repository of these wild animals throughout their historic
range.
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