More than 100 park bison to be sent to slaughter

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. - Rangers on horseback and in vehicles rounded up more than 100 bison Monday. Plans call for shipping all of them to slaughter without even testing them for brucellosis.

The animals were resting comfortably and munching on hay in a trap northwest of Gardiner at a National Park Service compound on Stephens Creek.

At least some of them will travel to a slaughterhouse today, Yellowstone spokeswoman Marsha Karle said Monday, and the others will follow as soon as trucks, trailers and other arrangements can be made.

This is the first time in nearly six years that the Park Service has trapped bison, though rangers have sporadically hazed animals in that time.

Two protesters were on the scene and were allowed to photograph the animals in a large corral, but said they didn't plan to "cause any problems."

"We'll document it," said Mike Mease, one of the organizing founders of Buffalo Field Campaign. "These animals are all going to slaughter and they haven't even left Yellowstone Park."

Karle said some of the animals had left the park but were herded back inside. Some were in the town of Gardiner, right on the park border, and others were on Royal Teton Ranch property a couple miles north of Yellowstone, a place were a few dozen cattle were feeding on hay Monday afternoon.

Bison are tolerated only in very small areas outside the park because some of the them carry brucellosis, a disease that ranchers fear will spread to cattle. The state's beef herds are certified brucellosis-free.

There are about 3,800 to 4,000 bison in the park.

A joint federal/state bison management plan in place since 2000 says that when the herd is above 3,000 animals they can be killed without testing them for disease.

The 3,000 mark gives managers the ability to shift from disease control to population control, which is how the Park Service is operating now.

Monday's operation marks the biggest one-day capture since the brutal winter of 1996-97, when almost 1,100 bison were shot or shipped to slaughter and more starved to death.

And the work could just be starting.

Karle said about 300 bison are gathered along the park's north rim, where most grasses have been grazed down to almost nothing.

If hazing them doesn't work, they'll be captured and killed.

"If we can get them to stay in the park, we will," Karle said. "Otherwise, we'll have to capture them and send them to slaughter."

Park officials aren't worried that killing some animals will hurt the bison population, Karle said.

"The population is very high right now," she said. "Our goal is to preserve the population. And if some individuals have to be taken out in the meantime, that's what will happen."

Karen Cooper, spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Livestock, which operates bison traps on the west side of the park, said bison captures will continue there, but no decision has been made whether to test bison for disease or simply ship them all to slaughter.

"There may be operations when testing isn't done," she said.

The carcasses, heads and hides will be donated to Native American groups or charities.

Cooper said "quite a few organizations" have asked for those items and it should be no problem disposing of over 100 carcasses.

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