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Most bison were brucellosis-free

© Connie Troutman

I'm interrupting my Australian wildlife series to update you on the latest bison controversy, as well as other updates that have been sent to me.

Yellowstone National Park (AP)
Four out of five bison killed out of concern that they could spread brucellosis to cattle tested free of the disease, according to the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.

Each winter, Montana officials kill bison that leave the park and cannot be herded back inside. Tissue samples from 144 bison killed over three years were tested at the National Veterinary Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, according to coalition spokesman Jon Catton.

"This is bad news," coalition executive director Mike Clark said. "It confirms what the Forest Service, the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service announced this week. These agencies have pointed out publicly that Montana's Department of Livestock is killing buffalo unnecessarily...these lab results leave no doubt about the fact," he said.

Catton said scientists have called the lab tests the most sophisticated ever performed on tissue taken from bison. The tests did not find brucellosis in 117 of the animals.

The rate of disease-free bison killed last winter was higher, with brucellosis found in four out of 36 bison examined. All four were bulls. Brucellosis can cause cattle to abort and can cause undulant fever in humans. Elk can also transimit this disease.

"If you consider that 1,189 Yellowstone biosn have been killed in the past three winters, this science, coming from the best lab in the country, indicates as many as 966 of those buffalo died without ever posing a risk to cattle," Clark said.

Clark said the coalition believes it makes more sense to ensure that bison and cattle do not share the same land at the same time, rather than killing bison as they leave the park.

Montana manages migrating bison in accordance with a management agreement that was supposed to remain in place until a final bison management plan is approved.

Four federal agencies, including the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the National Park Service, notified Montana officials Wed, Dec 15, that they are pulling out of the joint bison management planning process.

They said the move was due to Montana's refusal to back a compromise that would have committed the federal government to new brucellosis safeguards. Montana Gov. Mark Racicot likened the decision of the federal agencies to jilting a fiancee at the altar and said he will ask U.S. District Judge Charles C. Lovell to help both sides reach another compromise.