Bison Ushered Back Into Park Wayward Creatures Shooed, Not Shot, Judge Told In Report

Tue., Dec. 30, 1997

Associated Press

State and federal officials are continuing to haze bison back into Yellowstone National Park instead of killing them, they said in a report to a federal judge Monday.

A mild winter thus far has meant no mass exodus of bison from the park this year, and none has been killed so far, state and federal agencies said in a weekly report to U.S. District Judge Charles C. Lovell.

It was the second in a series of weekly reports ordered by Lovell earlier this month in what he said is an effort to closely monitor the toll taken by operation of a state-federal plan for managing the diseased Yellowstone bison.

Lovell said he does not want a repeat of last winter when almost 1,100 bison were shot or shipped to slaughter. The judge said no more than 100 bison can be killed this winter without a court hearing.

“There hasn’t been much going on at all,” park spokeswoman Marsha Karle told a reporter.

“There’ve been a couple of groups hazed back into the park on the west side.”

A group of nine females and calves were outside the park’s west boundary in the Cougar Creek area on Dec. 23, and four bison were seen in that area on the 24th, the report said.

Neither Karle nor the report to Lovell had specific numbers on how many animals were hazed back into the park. The report said the National Park Service hazed animals back into the park near the west boundary on Dec. 21 and again on Dec. 23.

Also near the west boundary, the state of Montana was preparing to haze approximately 16 bison that were in the Horse Butte area on Dec. 23-24, but the bison were hazed back into the park by private individuals, the report said.

Monday’s report said that eight bison, all bulls, were known to be outside the park at present, four on public land and four on private land.

The park’s bison population is believed to be about 2,200, and one animal has died of natural causes so far this winter, according to the report.

The report was prepared by the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the state of Montana.

In issuing the order, Lovell rejected a request from conservation and tribal groups to block use of the joint management plan again this winter.

The plan is designed to protect Montana cattle from brucellosis carried by the bison as they migrate from the park in search of winter forage. The plan was intended as a short-term measure while federal and state experts develop a long-range solution.

xxxx POPULATION Yellowstone’s bison population is believed to be about 2,200.

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