Project To Corral Bison Not Going As Expected Some Of The Animals Are Too Far From Holding Pen And Too Stubborn To Capture

A plan to corral wandering bison outside the western border of Yellowstone National Park is not working out as planned, and Montana livestock officials last week shot and killed as many bison as they corralled.

The problem is that some of the animals are too far from a holding pen set up on private land, just north of West Yellowstone, Mont. They’re also too stubborn.

“They respond a great deal like cattle, but they’re a much faster animal and a little quicker tempered,” said Montana’s Department of Livestock director Larry Petersen.

The problem is compounded by the fact the animals aren’t showing a natural fear of humans.

“Another thing we’re seeing is these bison are quite familiar with people. We’re assuming this is because the number of tourists that go through the park,” Petersen told the Post Register newspaper in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Petersen said 24 bison were shot Tuesday and Wednesday and that 24 were captured Wednesday. Of the captured animals, nine were shipped to slaughter after testing positive for brucellosis, a disease that can cause cattle to abort. The remainder were set free to roam on public lands beyond the park border for the rest of the winter.

The corral program is new this winter. It’s the result of a lawsuit filed by the state of Montana against the Park Service. The goal is to prevent the bison from spreading brucellosis to livestock, though there has never been a case of that happening in the wild. An estimated 12 percent of Yellowstone National Park’s 3,500 bison carry the disease.

Under the program, all males and non-pregnant females that test negative for the disease will be released and allowed to roam on public land outside the park until livestock return to the area in the spring. After that, the animals will be pushed back into the park. The ones that don’t go will be shot.

Petersen said the animals are led into the corrals by a trail of hay. Crews are also using noisemakers made of coffee cans and wires to haze the animals along.

Some West Yellowstone residents are outraged by the bison killings, but others are eager to see the mammoth creatures removed from their neighborhoods.

Rancher Dale Koelzer is allowing the Department of Livestock to run its corralling operation on his land.

“I just gave them a place to do it, I didn’t charge them anything,” said Koelzer, a resident of the area since 1937. “I just want to get rid of them.”

Koelzer said bison roaming outside the park was never a problem until the fires of 1988.

“We never had a bison problem until the Park Service decided to burn up all the feed in the park,” Koelzer said.

Park Service officials maintain the park herd is the only truly wild one left in America and is simply growing at a natural rate and trying to expand its range.

Another lawsuit filed by several conservation groups to stop the capture program is pending.

Tuesday, a judge will rule on the groups’ request for an injunction to stop the slaughtering until the lawsuit is resolved.