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Save the bison - 3/14/2014 11:37:14 AM

kalikshama

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Sign the petition: Protect Yellowstone's wild bison!

In harsh winters like this one, Yellowstone's bison -- the last genetically pure wild bison in the country -- naturally migrate outside the park in a desperate search for food, where the National Park Service rounds them up and ships them off to slaughter.

More than 250 wild bison, symbols of the American West, have already been killed this year.

Any day now, Montana's Governor Steve Bullock will decide whether to protect wild bison by granting them year-round access to public lands outside the park. It's critical that we put pressure on the governor and send him 50,000 messages by Monday!

Sign the petition to Governor Bullock: Protect Yellowstone's historic wild bison -- let them roam!

https://secure.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=13135

Since 1985, nearly 7,200 bison have been killed because of misguided concerns that they might transmit a disease called brucellosis to cattle -- but such a transmission has never been documented. [4, 5]

But there is hope -- there are hundreds of thousands of acres of available public land next to Yellowstone that are part of the bison's natural habitat. Last year, state agencies released a historic proposal to grant them access to that land. It's time for the governor to listen to science, history, and the grassroots -- not campaigns of misinformation and fear.

Bison are historical icons of the American West, integral to American Indian life and cherished by generations of Yellowstone visitors. James Holt, a member of the Nez Perce tribe who has worked tirelessly to protect bison, put it best: "It does them a disservice and is a disrespect to them that they are being treated in this manner." [6]

It is a travesty that Yellowstone's iconic and beloved bison are being needlessly killed simply because they need access to public lands to survive the winter. With time running out, it is up to us to send a powerful message to Governor Bullock -- let Yellowstone bison roam!

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RE: Save the bison - 3/14/2014 12:28:32 PM

jlf1961

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Joined: 6/10/2008
From: Somewhere Texas
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First, brucellosis normally found in elk has been transmitted from elk to both cattle and bison, cdc report.

Second those thousands of acres of land in Montana adjacent to Yellowstone is used for grazing cattle (you know the expensive free range stuff?) so unless everyone wants to cut back on grass and prairie fed cattle and take the stuff grown in feedlots with all the chemicals used in that process, something has to give.

This would not even be an issue if there were enough predators in the park to maintain a balance in the herd.

While I agree that the bison need to be protected, and yes it is a big part of the Native American heritage, which is why the bison shipped for slaughter does not end up in a grocery store near you, but goes to the tribes that have joined the agreement to accept the meat.

However, the herd at Yellowstone is not the only genetically pure bison in the country. Bison range over a lot of areas in the open range states. There are bison roaming in the mountains of Colorado, just take I70 out of Denver and you cant miss them.

Then you have the commercial operations that are grazing bison for the growing consumer market.

Now, these environmental do gooders scream bloody murder when any number of wild game or predators are culled. During the wolf cull in Alaska people were screaming about how cruel it was. The did not think that the over population of wolves in the regions where the hunts took place, meant that the animals that wolves hunt were growing scarce, throwing the natural balance way out of kilter.

I have seen protests over deer herds in various states, elk, big horn sheep, mountain goats, antelope and caribou. Thanks to disappearing habitat (subdivisions, resorts, mining) these animals dont have the range they used to have. And then there is the cross infection of diseases. Not just wild animal to cattle but cattle to wild animals.

You want to fix the problem, simple, all those "country estate" subdivisions that are so popular, tear em down, stop fencing range and prairie land, create wildlife breaks under railroads and high ways, and get the ranchers to quit bitching about wolves and other predators. Move back to open range cattle production.

Oh, yeah, I forgot, stop mining, oil shale processing, drilling oil and gas wells, and stop gold mining that takes a few hundred tons of rock to get a few ounces. And as pointed out in another thread, quite blowing the tops off mountains in the east to get coal for power plants.

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RE: Save the bison - 3/14/2014 1:09:47 PM

MercTech

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Joined: 7/4/2006
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If you look at the details I think you will find that the Yellowstone bison herds are culled this way to assure that the surviving bison neither starve nor denude their grazing areas. Would you find it better to let larger numbers die of starvation?

Personally, I think the park service does a credible job of balancing the needs of the wildlife while maintaining safe use of the park for humans.

BTW, if you are ever on the freeway between Denver and Cheyenne there is a good stop right near the Colorado/Wyoming line.

Terry Bison Ranch
http://www.terrybisonranch.com/

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