Following up on the story I wrote last week on North America’s endangered bison, here’s a full repost of an email I just received from the Defenders of Wildlife.
All they wanted was some food. Now some of the last true, wild bison in America face slaughter simply for leaving Yellowstone National Park.
These majestic animals – some of the only pure descendants of America’s original bison herds – are leaving the Park for lower elevations due to harsh winter conditions that have buried vegetation deep under snow. Now it’s up to federal officials to determine whether they will live or die.
Nearly 400 Yellowstone bison are now being held in corrals near Gardiner, Montana where they await their fate.
The Montana Department of Livestock claims that the bison will spread the disease brucellosis to their livestock and eat grass that ranchers want for their cows; however, no bison-to-cattle transmission of brucellosis has ever been documented. And the ranchers closest to Yellowstone, and most likely affected, support the bison.
All of these bison are now being tested for the disease brucellosis, and those bison that test positive will be slaughtered… soon.
Brucellosis-free bison may be killed as well, since the corrals are only designed to hold 400 bison and federal agents have been aggressively rounding up all the animals that stray from Yellowstone National Park.
Help stop the bison slaughter. Send your message now.
These incredibly important animals are among the only bison to carry the bloodlines of our historic herds! They should be allowed to roam free beyond Yellowstone, not executed over exaggerated fears.
Federal officials could easily allow them to roam parts of the 1.8 million-acre Gallatin National Forest. And some Montana tribes stand ready to restore bison – and their historical relationship with them – to their reservations. Defenders has been working closely with the tribes of the Fort Peck and Belknap Reservations in northeast Montana to prepare suitable habitat for these amazing animals.
Help save these bison. Please take action now.
America’s wild bison can play an important role in balanced, natural ecosystems. They once numbered in the millions, but now only a few thousand true bison remain – mainly confined to Yellowstone.
Bison scientists tell us we need multiple herds of at least 1,000 bison to assure their long term survival, and larger herds to resume their role in nature. The Yellowstone area is one of the only places we can accomplish this, yet our own National Park Service and Forest Service are partners in hazing – and often killing – bison whenever they leave the park.
Defenders of Wildlife
P.S. To ensure that our voices are heard, we need to send at least 60,000 messages to Secretary Salazar and Secretary Vilsack by the end of the week. Please send your message now.
P.P.S. Thanks in part to our work and the support of caring Defenders like you, U.S. and Montana wildlife officials have agreed to look for additional habitat for Yellowstone bison. But it won’t be in time to save the Yellowstone bison that have been rounded up, and it won’t stop future slaughters.
Unfortunately, Yellowstone bison are still in trouble and we need to keep pushing for solutions to ensure that these American icons remain wild and free for our children and grandchildren to enjoy.
Photo Credit: e_monk