And now:Sonja Keohane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
http://www3.gomontana.com/
By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer
12/18/1998
More bison hazed back to park
The Montana Department of Livestock plans to keep hazing bison back into
Yellowstone National Park as long as the weather allows, acting director
Marc Bridges said this week.
"We're going to haze until we can't haze any more," Bridges said.
The department on Wednesday conducted its seventh hazing operation in the
past several weeks in the West Yellowstone area.
More than 500 animals have been chased into the park, though that doesn't
mean there are 500 bison in the area, he said. Rather, many of the animals
have been hazed several times.
DOL has legal authority over wild bison that enter Montana. It maintains
the creatures must be controlled -- and often killed -- because of fears
they might spread the disease brucellosis to cattle.
Bison advocates maintain the agency is wasting its time and endangering the
animals unnecessarily.
"There's no legitimate reason not to allow these bison to step out of the
park," said Sue Nackoney, spokeswoman for Buffalo Nations, a protest group
that is housing its members in a cabin north of West Yellowstone.
She noted there are no cattle in the area at this time.
"It's not about brucellosis," she maintained. "It's about who's got control
of public lands and where public wildlife is allowed to go."
Bridges noted that bison can wander long distances.
In past years, some animals have traveled as far as the upper Madison
Valley, in proximity to wintering cattle, before they were shot.
"They are a migratory animal," Bridges said. "They used to migrate all over."
He said his agency is trying to avoid killing bison.
It recently received permission to build a bison trap on national forest
land near Horse Butte, north of West Yellowstone.
Bridges said the agency is now seeking construction bids and hopes to begin
work in a week or two. Construction should take about one week, he said.
While hazing is the agency's first option, weather may make the efforts
futile. Deep snow, extreme cold and a lack of forage inside the park may
lead to a decision to start trapping or shooting animals.
After hazing, the second preference is trapping, followed by shooting bison
in the field, Bridges said.
Once trapping commences, animals will be tested for brucellosis. All
pregnant animals and all animals testing positive for exposure to the
disease will be sent to slaughter, according to the interim bison
management plan now in place. Others will be marked, released and allowed
to wander in the area until spring.
Bridges said his agency intends to follow the plan to the letter.
He also said the agency has asked the Forest Service to close about five
acres around the trap to public access when operations begin.
"It's for public safety, bison safety and personnel safety," he said.
Last winter, Buffalo Nations members tried to disrupt DOL operations
several times and a few people were arrested.
The group has vowed to dog the agency again this winter.
Yellowstone Assistant Superintendent Marv Jensen said earlier this week
that bison have learned in recent years that pockets of good winter habitat
exist outside the park along the western border.
Though many of the animals that leave the park have been killed, survivors
remember the area and return to it, he said, often bringing others with
them.
