Word: bisons
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...interfere with the cattle grazing on the surrounding public lands. Last week the battle raged in the courts, as animal- rights activists lost -- at least for now -- a fight to block another season of slaughter of the very symbol of the U.S. Department of the Interior: the American bison...
Each winter bison, elk and other wildlife wander out of the park in search of food, and each winter they risk being shot on sight. Since 1985 the killings have been sanctioned by state officials under pressure from ranchers to protect the local cattle industry that relies on the public lands around the park. The huge, shaggy bison not only can damage fences; about half the Yellowstone herd is also thought to carry brucellosis, an infectious disease that can cause cows to abort their calves. Montana cattle have been certified brucellosis-free since 1983, but ranchers fear that...
...policy of hunting down the stray bison has been a public relations disaster. Of the park's 2,700 bison, 700 were killed by last spring, and an additional 11 have been slain this winter. The hunt is hardly sporting, protesters claim, since the Yellowstone bison have been conditioned not to view humans as enemies. "These animals are used to the click of the camera, not the crack of the rifle," argued Wayne Pacelle, national director of the Fund for Animals, in an editorial in USA Today. "When the hunters approach, the animals don't flee. They merely stare...
Such tactics have raised the hackles of Montanans, who do not take kindly to outside interference by what Ron Marlenee, a Republican U.S. Representative, calls "Eastern tinhorn snake-oil salesmen." Marlenee has introduced legislation in Congress that would prohibit interference with the bison hunters on public land. A similar bill failed to pass during the last session...
...other side, the Fund for Animals filed suit in federal court seeking an injunction against the hunt. The protesters contended that there was no proof that Yellowstone bison are a danger to livestock. The strain of brucellosis found in bison may not be virulent enough to pose a significant risk to domestic cattle. "They're making policy without data," charges biologist and bison researcher Jay Kirkpatrick. Says Pacelle: "If people want to graze cattle on the Yellowstone ecosystem, they need to assume some limited risk...