MONTANA
Bison sleek, but
suspect
West Yellowstone, Mont. – It’s been an
easy winter for Yellowstone National Park’s bison. Only 11 of the
shaggy giants have been killed, a fraction of the nearly 1,100 that
were shot or shipped to slaughter in the brutal winter of
1996-97.
Protruding ribs and jutting hip bones
were bison hallmarks at this time last year. This spring the bison
are sleek and fat.
Yet once the animals leave
Yellowstone, their status remains uncertain, because some fear they
could spread brucellosis to domestic cattle. Fighting the disease
throughout the country has taken many decades and billions of
dollars, and in the process, a sizable bureaucracy has been built,
along with complex rules and regulations.
Most
states are now “brucellosis class free,” and Montana’s chief
veterinarian, Arnold Gertonson, wants to keep it that way.
Gertonson recently wrote to the 49 other state vets, urging them to
reject a new federal proposal of tolerance for “low-risk” bison
that leave the park, such as bulls, non-pregnant females and
calves. The proposal by the agency, the federal Animal Plant and
Health Inspection Service (APHIS), is a significant departure from
its previous position, when it threatened to revoke Montana’s
hard-won brucellosis-free status if the state tolerated any
possibly infected animals.
In urging a rejection
of the newly relaxed attitude of APHIS, Gertonson said that if
bison are allowed to leave the park, this equals a “de facto
expansion” of the park’s borders.
Mike Clark,
director of the nonprofit Greater Yellowstone Coalition, says that
as long as Montana insists on the need to kill bison leaving the
park, there can be no satisfactory solution to the bison
controversy that has divided Montanans for 20
years.
When APHIS softened its position, Clark
added, “it found a way to loosen the noose around Yellowstone’s
bison. By rejecting APHIS” proposal, Montana is tightening the
noose back up.”
*Scott
McMillion
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Bison sleek, but suspect.
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