Yellowstone bison have been subject to evolutionary influences like harsh winters, predators, and other natural agents/NPS file
Op-Ed | Another Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
By George Wuerthner
The state, federal and tribal groups involved in the Interagency Bison Management recently announced they would slaughter up to 900 Yellowstone bison this winter.
Yellowstone’s wild bison were declared our national mammal in 2016 and are of international significance.
Yellowstone bison are not the same as other bison scattered around the West. They are the most genetically pure bison left on the continent, largely influenced by natural evolutionary processes.
Nearly all bison herds, including those on tribal lands and other national park and wildlife refuges, have been domesticated and are treated more like cattle than wild animals.
Yellowstone bison migrate out of the park seeking lands where snow is less deep/George Wuerthner
The annual massacre of Yellowstone bison is biologically degrading the herd. Yellowstone’s bison went through a genetic bottleneck in the late 1800s when approximately 50 animals were left in the park.
The annual killing of up to 20% of the herd to satisfy the overstated concerns of the livestock industry continues to erode this globally significant wild biological heritage. There are 100 million cattle in the US and only 5,000 Yellowstone wild bison—which has greater importance to the world?
This carnage is based on a big lie—that bison threaten the Montana cattle industry.
The big lie is that bison “might” transmit brucellosis to cattle. It is true that brucellosis is a disease that can cause domestic cattle to abort. The reality is that the threat is greatly exaggerated.
First, the primary way that brucellosis might be transmitted is if a bison cow aborted their fetus and a domestic animal happens to lick the dead fetus or birth fluids.
All transmission of brucellosis to cattle have involved elk, but elk are not bottled up in the park or slaughtered to preclude migration from Yellowstone/George Wuerthner
The occurrence of bison fetus abortions is infrequent. Plus, it is not difficult to separate cattle from any area actively used by bison in the spring when bison might abort.
Even if a bison aborted its calf, coyotes, magpies, golden eagles and other scavengers quickly consume the fetus.
Second, most cattle can be vaccinated against brucellosis—though, like all vaccinations, they are not 100% effective. Additional vaccination could reduce the number of animals without protection.
Third, though 20 ranch cattle herds have been infected with brucellosis, in all cases, the transmission was due to elk, not bison. Yet elk are not bottled up in Yellowstone or rounded-up for slaughter.
Fourth, as an indication that brucellosis is not the primary reason for the annual bison slaughter, bison bulls and calves can’t transmit the disease yet are regularly killed as part of the official butchery program.
Yellowstone bison are being killed ostensibly to preclude transmission of brucellosis to domestic cattle, but the real reason is to prevent wild bison from occupying other public lands where they might compete with domestic animals for forage.
The second part of the big lie is that too many bison are in the park. However, it is only “too many” because the Interagency Bison Management group agreed to keep the bison population below that arbitrary number.
Wolves occasionally kill bison, and dead bison that die from other causes such as starvation are important to scavengers like coyotes, magpies, and even grizzly bears/George Wuerthner
Other studies by NPS biologists suggest Yellowstone could support almost as twice as many bison. Plus if bison were permitted to migrate and live on other federal lands surrounding the park, their numbers in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem could be significantly increased and any negative impacts to park vegetation could be reduced.
Bison are also important to the other scavengers and predators in the park. When a grizzly finds a dead bison carcass in the spring it is like winning the “lottery.” Other predators like wolves occasionally succeed in killing a bison as well. Reduction of the overall numbers by hundreds of animals means fewer bison dying from natural causes like starvation and old age that in turn provide much-needed food for other park wildlife.
Bison are slaughtered either by Native Americans hunting outside of the park or captured inside the park and sent to slaughter. The annual slaughter and removal of bison literally takes food out of the mouth of native predators and other wildlife. Overall this contributes to a degradation of Yellowstone’s bison genetic legacy and ecosystem/George Wuerthner
The Interagency Bison Group tries to assuage the annual carnage with assurances that any slaughtered bison will be transferred to Indian tribes or be killed by tribal hunters.
Imagine if, for some reason, the last old-growth redwood trees (also of international significance) were being cut down. Would you feel any better about this destruction if the agencies justified it by saying they would cut the trees into planks to be distributed to tribes to make huts or redwood decks?
There are numerous places on public lands surrounding Yellowstone where wild bison could roam. They should be encouraged to use these lands, rather than being destroyed. The transfer of Yellowstone bison to other public lands like Montana’s Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge or to Forest Service lands in the Upper Green River area of Wyoming is also an option.
Currently, about 75,000 acres outside of the park are available for bison, however, due to tribal hunting and harassment from agency officials, bison seldom occupy these lands. Another potential solution is to expand Yellowstone’s borders to the north of Yankee Jim Canyon and to the northwest into the Gallatin Range providing far more protected wildlife habitat for bison to roam.
The Missouri River Breaks National Monument and adjacent Charles M. Wildlife Refuge is a perfect location for transplants of Yellowstone’s bison. Photo George Wuerthner
What disturbs me is how little outrage is expressed about this annual slaughter. Most of the 'Big Green' groups seldom mention the butchery nor publish all the reasons this carnage is unnecessary. The killing of wild bison has become normalized. It should never be permitted to become “normal.”
Yellowstone wild bison are part of the global biological heritage. We must start to treat them as the matchless legacy they represent.
George Wuerthner is an ecologist who has published three books on Yellowstone as well as others on wildlands protection, including Protecting the Wild: Parks and Wilderness the Foundation for Conservation.
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Comments
Funny, isn't it, that we're always "managing" the wildlife populations in our national parks but never the human ones. George is right. This "hunt" is a disgrace.
And here I thought that national parks were a safe space for wildlife. Are there any ongoing efforts to curtail this practice? We should be looking to revitalize bison in the US, not cull them for arbitary reasons.
Is it possible that the newly appointed National Parks Services Director could have any input?
I'd just point out that the bison aren't going to be killed inside the park. But there's no force field keeping the bison from leaving the park.
Expand Yellowstone north to Jim Yanke Canyon. Make this a goal from now through 2030. Utilize LWCF funding to voluntary buy parcels out. Buy out Church Universal Triumphant (CUT) lands. Reagon had the opportunity to buy these CUT lands in the 80's but passed it up. Philip Sheridan was correct, Yellowstone needed to be bigger.
Expand the boundaries of Yellowstone and save the Bison. Let the wolves and grizzlies take care of the Bison not man.
Is man not a "natural" part of the environment?
For once, this is not a Democrat/Republican "thing."Both political paties have failed, although not always in the same way.
I regret that Montana's citizens seem unable to bring the Montana Department of Livestock under control, despite the existence of creditable evidence that Montanans want the carnage to stop. The Montana Department of Livestock's positions are indefensible. The Department is worthy of your contempt.
The Native Americans are, as always, seemingly above criticism. They invoke their "treaties," some of them going back to the 1850s, to harvest a certain number of bison. However, that number is too small to be of any significance to the tribes, but it is very significant to the herd and the environment. These outmoded and outdated treaties should be disavowed, if not revoked. If someone doesn't like it, that's tough.
What a shame that, after all these years, the Buffalo Field Campaign, which has been laboring in the trenches in sub-zero weather to save Yellowstone's buffalo, has been largely ignored. Google them and offer them a helping hand. No one else has proved their mettle the way the BFC has.
Will we ever have a president willing to stake his (or her) reputation to ending this national disgrace? I've been waiting more than 70 years for the answer.