And now:Sonja Keohane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From the Boseman Chronicle. Anybody know what happened to the
statement APHIS made in the winter of 96-97 that said allowing the bison to
wander into Montana would not cause them to rescind Montana's brucellosis
free status? If that is still true, then there is no reason to haze?
<http://www3.gomontana.com/>
Hazing operation continues
The Montana Department of Livestock hazed dozens of bison into Yellowstone
National Park north of West Yellowstone Wednesday, though there is
disagreement over just how many animals were involved and whether the
operation did any good.
More bison remain outside the park, and those animals will be chased into
the park as soon as possible, DOL acting chief Marc Bridges said in a press
release.
Wednesday's actions affected 45 bison, DOL said, and was the sixth such
effort so far this winter.
The protest group Buffalo Nations, which is monitoring bison operations in
the area, said there were 50 bison in the group, which had been in the Duck
Creek area near the junction of highways 191 and 287. The group also
accused livestock officials of chasing 35 elk that were in the area at the
time.
DOL officials could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.
DOL says it is hazing the animals so they won't have to be killed. About
half of the park's bison test positive for exposure to brucellosis, though
a much smaller number are actively infected. Montana's beef herds enjoy a
brucellosis-free status and the industry says that status could be
imperiled if possibly infected animals are allowed to wander in the state.
Buffalo Nations and other bison advocates maintain DOL's fears of disease
transmission are overblown and that hazing the animals stresses them by
making them run through deep snow.
In past winters, hazing has been marginally effective. As snows pile up in
the park and forage is increasingly hard to reach, bison become more
determined to leave and find something to eat.
That's when they enter the controversy -- and frequently the crosshairs --
in Montana.
