<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Thursday, March 28, 2024
March 28, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Yellowstone bison entering Montana face slaughter, hunters

By Associated Press
Published: February 29, 2020, 7:07pm
3 Photos
In this Monday, Feb. 17, 2020 photo, a bison walks in Yellowstone National Park&#039;s Lamar Valley near Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. State and federal officials are hoping to reduce Yellowstone&#039;s bison herds by up to 900 animals this winter.
In this Monday, Feb. 17, 2020 photo, a bison walks in Yellowstone National Park's Lamar Valley near Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. State and federal officials are hoping to reduce Yellowstone's bison herds by up to 900 animals this winter. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown) Photo Gallery

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — One of the last and largest wild bison populations in North America has begun its migration out of Yellowstone National Park into southwestern Montana, where they are being hunted and face government-sponsored slaughter as part of a population reduction program.

Hundreds of the animals have moved in recent days into the Gardiner basin along the park’s northern border, Yellowstone spokeswoman Morgan Warthin said. The animals leave the park in winter to graze at lower elevations.

Capturing the bison for possible shipment to slaughter “could happen at any point given the large number of bison in the basin,” Warthin said.

Because this year’s migration occurred late, the park has only a narrow window to capture animals before the weather warms and they return to higher elevations inside the park, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks regional supervisor Mark Deleray said Wednesday.

State and federal officials want to reduce Yellowstone’s bison herds this winter by up to 900 animals under an agreement intended to shield Montana’s cattle industry from the disease brucellosis. Yellowstone had just over 4,800 bison as of last summer.

The population reduction would come through a combination of hunting, slaughter and placing up to 110 animals into quarantine for potential relocation at a later date.

Loading...