Urge agencies to stop bison slaughter

By Gail Richardson

I want to thank Scott McMillion for his stories on the current Yellowstone bison situation. People have to realize that the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) has no intention of tolerating bison on our public lands in Montana even when no cattle are present for miles around. It is all about power and control. Karen Cooper of DOL is quoted as saying, "It really doesn't have anything to do with the cattle there (on the CUT property). It has to do with the fact that there is disease in the herd (of park bison)." This is totally disingenuous! Of course this situation has everything to do with livestock, which wrongly take precedence over native wildlife too often on our public lands. It is cattle that should be managed, not bison. Bison tolerate brucellosis. It is not a threat to people. To wipe out this disease in wild herds is to condemn these herds. Do we really want to eradicate this genetically unique herd? Do we want them to be less wild? Do we want them sent to slaughter from our most famous national park?

I went to Yellowstone two days ago because I was distraught. From a mile away, with good binoculars, I could see the huge corral complex, which is off of the old Corwin Springs to Gardiner Road to the west. The public cannot get anywhere close (because of safety issues and effect on the bison?). There are warning signs everywhere. It was horrible to see. Here are park bison in corrals in the park, which is supposed to be their refuge, tested, ear-taged, fed hay,just like cattle, calves vaccinated with a drug not proven effective in bison. I cried.

I urge the concerned public to go see this travesty. Our tax dollars are funding the slaughter of our native wildlife to protect the cattle industry. Let them protect themselves. Vaccinate their cattle and graze them away from the bison migratory routes north and west out of the park.

I talked with park officials, and they don't like the situation either, but there is little they can do because of the current bison management plan. The Park Service input into this plan did soften it. DOL would have liked to go into the park to kill all the bison that tested positive (for antibodies, not necessarily the disease), maybe half of the herd. The Park Service would not allow that. There was compromise. These individual bison who exercise their urge to move north (or west) are now sacrificed, when there are no cattle for miles.

Pressure DOL, pressure the Church Universal and Triumphant and the Park Service. This is bureaucracy gone amok. Bison deserve a better fate.

Gail Richardson

Bozeman

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