Bison plan could remove 360 animals

[The Straight Story]

Bison plan could remove 360 animals


BILLINGS, Mont.—As many as 360 migrating wild bison would be shot by hunters in Montana, captured for slaughter or shipped elsewhere this winter under a proposal from Yellowstone National Park officials seeking an alternative to the indiscriminate slaughters of years past.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press show officials are considering "selective culls" to help reduce the park's bison population from 3,700 animals to about 3,000. Some of this winter's anticipated decrease would come from natural deaths.

The proposal comes amid rising pressure from Montana officials including Gov. Brian Schweitzer to rein in the size of Yellowstone's iconic bison herds. Others say the animals should roam freely -- although cattle ranchers worry that could bring unwanted competition for grazing space and spread the animal disease brucellosis.

Park biologists wrote in the proposal that reducing the population could avoid the need for the large-scale slaughters -- more than 1,700 were killed or removed in 2008 -- seen during past migrations. In harsh winters, bison leave the park in large numbers seeking food at lower elevations in Montana.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/11/20/ap_exclusive_bison_plan_could_remove_360_animals/

[msongs]

1. get rid of the cows instead, they are an invasive species serving no useful purpose nt

[prairierose]

2. Good crief...even in SD we take better care of our buffalo than that...

every fall they are rounded up. Calves are vaccinated so there is not brucellosis. And they decide how many they are going to sell. If it was a bad growing season they sell more buffalo. Why is that so difficult? Granted, our park is not as big, but really, they can't deal with at least part of the heard as if it is a herd that needs to be managed?

[NNN0LHI]

3. What happens to the bison SD decides to sell?

Who buys them?

Don

[newfie11]

4. it's an auction

It also draws lots of tourist. Great for business.

[NNN0LHI]

5. Where do the bison go after they leave the auction?

Who is purchasing them at the auction?

Don

[newfie11]

6. I don't know where they all go

but some are bought by folks to expand private herds.

[NNN0LHI]

10. Thank you

I had no idea that people kept privately owned herds of bison.

I have seen bison before at the zoo and they were about as big as my car and were some mean looking critters.

I bet rounding them up is a sight to see.

Don

[newfie11]

11. Your welcome

The Cheyenne River Rez in SD has their own herd. There are quite a few small operations around west river SD that raise buffalo. The buffalo are sold for meat.

[belcffub]

12. There is a private herd in South Western NY

I am not sure how many they have... The fences around the places are huge... posts are made from telephone poles... I have seen a couple of dozen but there are many separate areas fenced in... I think they also have Beefalo... pretty sure they raise them to see the meet...

[flvegan]

7. Inconveniencing cattle ranchers? Nuke them from space.

God forbid such a thing cause an issue with the cattle ranchers. They have money to make off the slaughter of their animals. Fuck nature.

[stuntcat]

8. k & r

"Tens of millions of bison once roamed North America." We almost killed them all in about 10 years, then it took like 100 years to get the number back up to 20,000. Now we kill them by the thousands to make room for our cattle, when that industry is screwing our future to death.

:puke: That's Humanity for ya'.. a bunch of real masterminds.

[applegrove]

9. When doing my family tree I came across a great aunt whose brother in law

saved the last buffalo in the world. He watched thousands of buffalo pelts be brought in to the trading post he was at in the 1880s and went out and got ownership of 13 orphaned buffalo. Out of that group in Manitoba come all the descendants we have today.