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Keep your bison off my property!
A wealthy software developer/rancher in rural Colorado has been charged in the slaying of 32 bison that wandered onto his property. Jeff Hawn was annoyed that his neighbor's bison were knocking over his satellite dish, and leaving trails of dung, hair, and tracks on his land. So he hunted them. A wealthy software developer/rancher in rural Colorado has been charged in the slaying of 32 bison that wandered onto his property. Je... more
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Where the buffalo roam -- and die
More than half of Yellowstone National Park's bison herd has died since last fall, forcing the government to suspend its annual slaughter program.
More than 700 of the iconic animals starved or otherwise died on the mountainsides during an unusually harsh winter, and more than 1,600 were shot by hunters or sent to slaughterhouses in a disease-control effort, according to National Park Service figures.
Government officials say the slaughter prevents the spread of the disease brucellosis from the Yellowstone bison to cattle on land near the park. Brucellosis can cause miscarriages, infertility and reduced milk production in domestic cattle.
But critics call the culling an overreaction. There is no documented case of the disease passing from bison to cattle, they said.
"I mean, it's hype, it's a hysteria," Mease said. "And it's not a fatal disease." More than half of Yellowstone National Park's bison herd has died since last fall, forcing the government to suspend its annual s... more -
1100 Yellowstone Bison Slaughtered
American Bison were once plentiful in the United States. They freely roamed by the millions. European settlers virtually wiped out the species. Currently wild Bison are restricted to just a few wild life refuges, one of which is Yellowstone National Park. While in Yellowstone, the Bison are protected, but if they leave the park they are harassed and slaughtered. One quarter of the herd is gone.
"'Yellowstone’s bison are America’s bison, the last pure descendants of the tens of millions of bison that once thundered through the American landscape,'” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife and former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Clinton administration. “'Yet as soon as they set foot outside of Yellowstone Park, even onto publicly owned national forests, they are harassed and killed. This is truly one of the worst examples of wildlife management in the country.'”
Critics argue that Yellowstone is being treated like a zoo rather than a natural habitat. They argue animals should be free to come and go as they please, just like the millions of human visitors.
Defenders of Wildlife, and organization that works to protect wild native species, is urging people to take action by writing the Montana Promotion Division -- the state's tourism officials -- and speak out for sensible wildlife management of these American icons. American Bison were once plentiful in the United States. They freely roamed by the millions. European settlers virtually wiped out th... more
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