Park ponders bison vaccination

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer

The National Park Service is beginning a formal study on the question of whether it should vaccinate bison for brucellosis, using "biobullets" fired from a pneumatic rifle.

If it goes ahead, this will be the first vaccination of free-roaming bison in Yellowstone National Park.

Last winter, about 125 young bison were vaccinated after being captured in a trap near Gardiner. However, vaccinating a trapped bison with a hypodermic is one thing. Doing so at a distance with a free bison is another.

The biobullets "are probably effective at a distance of about 100 feet," Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said.

"We're trying to get a start on a program," he added. "We'll look at existing technology and see if we're there yet."

Eventually, the Park Service plans to write an environmental impact statement examining the issue.

The biobullets would deliver the RB51 vaccine, which has been proven safe for use in the park. However, its effectiveness remains a matter of some debate.

"We have some serious questions about the effectiveness of it," said Dick Dolan, program director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. "It's really a huge question, whether this is something that's going to get us anything or not."

He said he also wants to make sure bison are treated like wildlife and not like livestock.

No vaccines are 100 percent effective for brucellosis.

The goal of vaccination program would be to "lower the percentage of Yellowstone bison infected with brucellosis," said a Park Service document posted on Yellowstone's Web site.

Any vaccinations would be applied to calves and yearlings at first, the Web site says, and the program is meant to be flexible so it can be modified "as needed when new information about technology and vaccines become available."

About half of the park's herd of 4,000 or more bison has been exposed to the disease, which can cause an animal to abort its first calf after exposure.

About 15 percent of the herd, the last free-ranging herd in the lower 48 states, is actively infected.

Almost every winter, government officials kill bison that wander into Montana because of fears they will spread the disease to cattle.

Montana has been designated brucellosis-free since 1985.

The Park Service will hold a series of meetings to take public comment on the vaccination idea.

The first will be in Gardiner, from 4 p.m. top 7 p.m. at the Eagles Hall, at 222 Main Street on Sept. 13.

The next will be in Bozeman on Sept. 14, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the MSU Strand Union Building.

Later meetings will take place in Idaho and Wyoming.

For more information, check the Internet at www.nps.gov/yell/remote-vaccination.

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