HUNDREDS OF BISON MIGRATING OUT OF YELLOWSTONE TO BE HUNTED DOWN UNDER GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED SLAUGHTER
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Bison have started to migrate out of Yellowstone National Park and into southwestern Montana where they could be the target of hunters attempting to reduce the herds' population size by up to 900.
Yellowstone spokeswoman Morgan Warthin told the Associated Press the bison have moved into the Gardiner basin as part of their yearly migration. Outside the confines of the park, Yellowstone states, they may be captured and taken to slaughter at the Stephen's Creek Facility.
The hunt is part of a policy to regulate the population of bison in Yellowstone, which is the only spot in the contiguous U.S. housing free-ranging bison since the prehistoric era. Officials say if the numbers get too high individual bison would not have enough space to roam and risk overgrazing the park.
As of August, the park was home to some 4,800 bison, which park officials describe as healthy. According to Yellowstone, numbers are increasing between 10 and 17 percent each year.
Yellowstone has already said they plan to remove 600 to 900 animals this winter, using a combination of methods: capture and slaughter, hunting and quarantining. This is higher than the 460 culled last year.
Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks regional supervisor Mark Deleray told the AP the migration has arrived late this year and that Native American tribes with treaty rights in the area have killed more than 50 in hunts this year.
The migration is an annual process, with animals moving to warmer areas of lower elevations that contain less snow. The herds will return to Yellowstone in the summer.
Inside the park, hunting is strictly restricted. According to Yellowstone, "Allowing hunting in Yellowstone would affect the behavior of animals and drastically change the experience people expect when they visit. This is not the future we want for Yellowstone, and we don't believe it's the future the public wants either."
It is a different story when when animals move outside the park. Bison carry a bacterial disease called brucellosis, which brings concerns that they might pass on the infection to cattle. For this reason, bison are not allowed to move freely outside of Yellowstone and legislation has been introduced to prevent them being moved to conservation areas outside the park.
The increase in bison numbers has been described as a conservation success story. A combination of hunting and the U.S. Army almost drove the species to extinction in the nineteenth century, but protections introduced at the turn of the twentieth century saw numbers revive (if not to historic levels of 30 to 50 million).
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Bison carry a bacterial disease called brucellosis, which brings concerns that they might pass on the infection to cattle. That is NOT a fact. It is false information put out by ranchers adjacent to the Park as their "reason" for not wanting the Buffalo to roam and "possibly" trespass on their ranches.
There isn’t a single a documented case of brucellosis transmission between buffalo and domestic cattle under natural conditions; ever! In Grand Teton National Park, where vaccinated cattle and brucellosis exposed buffalo have been commingling for decades, no transmission has ever occurred .
The chances of transmission between wild buffalo and vaccinated domestic cattle have been characterized as “very low.”
Several herds in several states, including here in Colorado. Most are genetically "pure".
The question is whether they should be hunted or culled, and how many. How much interbreeding with cattle might occur if they are allowed to roam.
There are presently 26 Tribes/Nations within the vicinity of Yellowstone. As far as I know, only 4 of the Tribes/Nations have taken the initiative to place buffalo on their lands through "reintroduction", which kinda surprises me. Maybe if the Fish and Game folks got with the other Tribes/Nations, the buffalo could be relocated to those lands.
A 10 - 17% increase in buffalo in the Park show that they are able to sustain their own lives. The transfer of that increased amount each year would be a huge boon.
No friggin' sense in mass killing purely over a fear of something that has never happened.
One of the problems with introducing them on tribal land is that it takes years to get the OK and pass all the hurdles placed in the tribe's way.
Currently, the Blackfoot, Cherokee, Arapahoe, Shoshone, Assiniboine and Sioux tribes have ''pure herds'' with more on the waiting list.
Here is a good link that shows what US and Canadian tribes are doing to protect and expand the herds.
Down here, the Isleta Pueblo have a herd of 'bout 150 which range right next to I-25. During the Spring, it's a hoot to watch all the "visitors" to the state pulling off to the side of the bridge to take pictures and just stare.
Awesome site to see.
I know that Isleta and Sandia Pueblo both have buffalo but I don't know if they are the ''pure'' stock. Do you know?
No idea - but will try to find out. The "herd" was developed 'bout 20 years ago by a couple who bought a 15,000 acre ranch near Bosque. They purchased a male and female calf couple in SD and the calves were raised by a mother cow who had lost her calf, so, it is highly possible that they are not "pure" having been raised by a cow.
As soon as you hear the part about infecting cattle, you know what's involved. They want nothing else grazing on "their" grassland. I think of what has been done to the wild mustang as an example of the hysteria or ranchers.
The ''brucellosis'' scare has been debunked numerous times yet it is still being used as the ''reason''...
Native tribes are taking buffalo and establishing new herds in parts of the US.
Leave these majestic animals alone...grrrrrrrrr.
Olesons here in Traverse city has the largest herd of Buffalo east of the Mississippi. They are not free range of course but raised for slaughter. I like the Buffalo meat myself but it is a bit pricey. I have met a bull up close and personal once and damn they are impressive.
I used to live right by this herd, there are several Herds around the area.
Lol remember when the herd got loose and shut down US-31/37?
I happened to be driving by just before they shut the highway down and there was Buffalo everywhere.
Quite a process to get them back in there. Buffalo don't "herd" well .....
lol I remember. That gave the rubber neckers something to look at. Fudgy season is almost upon us....
They also don't stay enclosed well, note the fence is a high page wire construction to keep them from pushing through or jumping over, to keep cattle in all you need is a 3 barbed wire construction and they honor it, buffalo/bison don't honor a barbed wire fence, which may also answer the question posed by 1stwarrior in 1.1.1 why native american tribes don't take these animals in.
In 2006 we were driving across Yellowstone National Park and encountered a ''Buffalo Jam'' they were crossing the road and all traffic came to a halt. They then decided not to cross the road but to walk the length of the road. I was driving a Ford F250 at the time and was high up when a male bull walked right next to the drivers window. LOL he looked right in the window at me and snorted...I decided right then and there I would surely give him the right of way.
A few cars in front of me he turned and hooked the front fender and grill of the car and that was the end of that car.
I spoke to the lady that was driving the car and she said that she has been driving that road for years, she lived in West Yellowstone and had her window open and whistled at the Bull when it was next to the car...Make a note to yourself. Never whistle at a bull Buffalo...LOL
It not the fencing at all bccrane. It's the ok from the feds and the hoops that they tribes have to jump through to get them.
It took the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes years of jumping through hoops and lawsuits to get the first Buffalo from Yellowstone.
Yup. It's getting to a be a year round season anymore ....
You'd be surprised. In all the years i've lived here i can think of only one or two times they got out. I'm sure there is more but those are the ones i heard about.
A photo of Yellowstone buffalo being released at Ft. Peck reservation. The ''pure'' buffalo now number over 375 individuals.
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This comment was no way in HELL off topic. It is the Trump Administration's policies that are off topic, and they created this mess.
Stop attacking me, my posts and article when I say something about the Accused Child Rapist in the WH.
You role as Moderator, I assume, Charger, is NOT to protect Trump, Mr. Charger-Barr!
Trump has NOTHING to do with the origination of this stupidity. If you can't discuss the thread, as written, as the author, I am asking, nicely, please go someplace else to play.
You, as a member, need to READ AND FOLLOW the CoC - STAY ON TOPIC OR GO SOMEPLACE ELSE.
ETP,
I don't want you to feel picked upon, but the owner of a seed is allowed to say what the topic is and that is all 1st did. Had he mentioned Trump, then it would have been up for discussion, even if he said no politics, but he didn't. It's all in the CoC. This is just an explanation so that you don't take this personally.
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Wonder if the same people that want to kill them are the people that want to have their cattle graze on public lands.
No doubt.
Ender, you bring up a good point. The BLM has millions of acres of land that are "restricted". However, they do lease the rights for grazing and watering. Why doesn't the BLM place the buffalo on some of those millions of acres???
I prolly have the answer to that 1st.
Imagine if you will ma and pa kettle loading their urbanized kettelettes into the rented RV and taking off on the great American family vacation road trip , but with the twist of seeing the vast wide open spaces they are not accustom to
, it will make the experience of a westward traveler more authentic .now out in this vast expanse of BLM land there are bison.
Now muse on this . in the many national parks that have such wildlife , there re numerous regulations on how humans SHOULD interact with the wildlife, but as history has shown at least me( living less than an hrs drive from Yellowstone) those regulations seem to be for OTHER people and not the ones that desire to ignore them, Oh lets not forget in the semi controlled environment of the park there are rangers and LEO to attempt to enforce said regulations , out in the vast expanse...not so much.
So ma and pa kettle ant those kettlettes would likely become proof of darwins theory of survival of the fittest , and bison are more fit than humans. and if what happens in Yellowstone is any example , the humans will lose badly in an area with very sparce cell reception or acsess to emergency services.
To boil it down to the simple of why bison wont be turned loose on BLM land? its open to too many gomers that think they know better , yet daily prove that HUMANS are really STUPID.
Lemme see - humans can run up to 28 mph - buffalo - 40. Green Bay Defensive Tackle weighs 350 lbs - buffalo - 1800. 8 y,o. kettelite with rubber suction tipped arrow and is a lousy shot - buffalo can spin on a dime and throw said kettelite 50 feet in the air with no effort.
You mean them Kettelites?
Parents get way to close to a buffalo in Yellowstone and they run and leave the kid in the path of the Buffalo. Not a pretty sight but the kid was lucky, she escaped alive no thanks to the stupid parents and others that got way to close to him.
Crikey!!
Can't even publish a simple article about Buffalo without people taking it off topic political ...... AMAZING!
This is one of my favorite paintings of buffalo. It's my James Bama and entitled ''Winter on Trout Creek''.
One helluva winter coat.
Remember the Buffalo Nickels? How did you feel about the design?
When I was going to college in Harrisonburg, VA, there was a heard of Buffalo beside I-81. We rented place near there and it was a treat to look over and see them. They have been gone from there for a long time
It's really cool when the little ones pop. Little ..... they are like a very large dog when they are calves .