Fifteen bison thundered along a barbed-wire fence in
West Yellowstone while officials from the Montana Department of
Livestock chased them from snowmobiles in December. After running
the herd for a half an hour through a privately owned field,
officials cornered eight. Then they shot blanks from rifles into
the air, set off firecrackers and yelled until the lead bison
jumped the fence. One by one, the rest of the herd followed,
lumbering back into Yellowstone National Park.
So
far this winter, department staffers have chased over 500 of the
animals from state and private land, maintaining Montana’s
brucellosis-free status, says Marc Bridges, acting director of the
state’s livestock agency. The alternative is killing bison, he
adds.
Activists with the group Buffalo Nations,
who are camped near here for the second winter, call the
department’s actions inhumane and unnecessary. “Hazing bison back
into the park or capturing them uses up energy resources the
animals need to survive the winter,” says activist Leo Brennen. “It
would be more humane to shoot the animals. Hazing is ultimately the
same thing as killing them.” Two activists were arrested in January
while protesting the hazing.
The federal Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service has said there is little risk
of calves, yearlings and bulls spreading brucellosis to cattle if
they leave the park for limited amounts of time. Nonetheless, the
Department of Livestock has started work on a capture pen near
Horse Butte, where officials will catch bison and test them for
brucellosis. All animals that test positive will be killed.
*Rachel Odell
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The great bison chase continues.
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