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Defenders in Action: Defenders Speaks Up for Bison
Montana has ramped up its annual plan of hazing, capturing and slaughtering bison that leave the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park. The bison have been exposed to brucellosis, a disease that causes cows to abort fetuses, but transmission from bison to cattle in the wild has not occurred, according to Caroline Kennedy, director of special projects in Defenders species conservation division. The state exaggerates the risk of transmission, which would be sufficiently reduced by separation of the two species, Kennedy says.
As of late January, 19 bison had been killed this season. Defenders continues to seek legal remedies to end this senseless slaughter.
Most recently, Defenders joined the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and other regional groups in challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s issuance of a 10-year grazing permit on a controversial grazing allotment just outside of the park, where hundreds of bison have been hazed and killed. The Forest Service reissued the permit two years ago without conducting an analysis of the impacts on bison. In response to the suit, the Forest Service started a scoping process seeking public comment on the issue and plans to conduct an environmental impact statement.
