YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Mont. – As temperatures
dip to 30 below, park rangers are rounding up and shipping to
slaughter all bison that approach private land on the park’s
northern border. It’s the start of a new management plan that has
generated controversy and a lawsuit.
“It’s a sad
day when it comes to this inside the borders of Yellowstone,” said
Mike Clark, director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. His
group and a handful of others are trying to stop the roundup by
going to federal court.
The roundup is part of a
temporary plan worked out to settle a lawsuit Montana Gov. Marc
Racicot filed against the federal government. All bison that
approach the Church Universal and Triumphant’s private land
abutting the park are to be herded into a $100,000 set of
progressively smaller corrals about three miles inside the park,
loaded into trailers and sent to slaughterhouses. The meat is to be
auctioned to the public.
As of Jan. 13, 146 bison
had been shipped away, two escaped the pen and one was shot there
after it collapsed.
Along the park’s western
border, bison that leave the snowbound park in search of food are
captured by the Montana Department of Livestock. Those that are not
pregnant and test negative for brucellosis are released on public
land outside the park. The livestock industry fears bison will
spread the disease to cattle, even though bison advocates point out
this has never happened in the wild. The new plan replaces one in
which state officials shot bison in the field after they left the
park and donated the meat to charities or Indian
tribes.
Clark contends the Park Service violates
federal law by capturing the bison inside Yellowstone. The
coalition’s case is now being appealed to the 9th Circuit Court in
San Francisco.
– Scott
McMillion
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Bison deaths spur lawsuit.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
