Group Protests Bison Plan Park Service To Kill Infected Bison That Leave Yellowstone

Fri., Aug. 23, 1996

Associated Press

The National Parks and Conservation Association said Thursday it will take legal action to stop the killing of bison under a new interim bison management plan.

The plan, approved earlier this month by the National Park Service, is designed to keep brucellosisinfected bison leaving Yellowstone National Park from transmitting the disease to domestic cattle in Montana.

The disease causes cattle to abort, but Montana herds now are classified as brucellosis-free.

The plan provides for the National Park Service and the state to capture and test some of the animals and slaughter those that are infected.

Paul Pritchard, president of the conservation group, said he believes the plan was based on politics rather than science.

“This is a waste of money and resources, as well as a senseless slaughter of bison,” Pritchard said.

The interim plan also does not please the Montana Livestock Department, though for different reasons. Agency Director Larry Petersen said the plan is inadequate, and a permanent plan must address the problem of eradicating brucellosis from the entire greater Yellowstone basin.

The interim plan will remain in effect until a long-term plan is developed. A draft is scheduled for release in November, and a long-term plan is to be completed next year.

Montana filed suit against the federal government to force action on the problem of the bison. The interim plan resulted from a settlement agreement.

Meanwhile, some members of a multiagency committee studying brucellosis among elk and bison in the Greater Yellowstone area say vaccinating animals is a logical way to deal with the disease.

But other members noted during a meeting this week in Idaho Falls that there is no vaccine proven to work with bison, and said developing such a vaccine could be very expensive.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department chief veterinarian Tom Thorne said vaccination would be the best way to deal with free-ranging bison.

But that conclusion was questioned by others on the task force, who said a vaccine found effective in elk is not effective in bison.

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