<+>=<+>KOLA Newslist<+>=<+>
 

[article provided by Pat Morris. Thanks!]

Tue, 29 Feb 2000
http://www.billingsgazette.com/

YELLOWSTONE PARK
Lots of cash spent on bison efforts
By JOE KOLMAN
Gazette Bozeman Bureau

WEST YELLOWSTONE - Regardless of whether you consider the bull bison
wandering outside Yellowstone National Park to be a national treasure
or a disease-spreading outlaw, a lot of money - both public and private - is
being spent on this shaggy giant.

[Associated Press photo
A bull bison from Yellowstone National Park crashes through chest-deep
snow in West Yellowstone, Mont., Jan. 6, 1998, while being hazed back into
a "Bison Safe Zone" by volunteers for a group called Buffalo Nations.]

Winter weather usually drives at least tens - sometimes hundreds of bison -
out of the park looking for food. But unusually warm temperatures this year
have kept most of the bison inside Yellowstone - and away from Montana
where they are hazed, trapped, and sometimes slaughtered in the name of
controlling the disease brucellosis.

The one exception has been a wily bull that has repeatedly thwarted efforts by
the state to haze the animal back into the park.

As of Jan. 31, the state Department of Livestock had spent more than $45,000
on bison management this winter, according to spokeswoman Karen Cooper.
Costs for hazing attempts on the bull made this month are not included in that
figure.

The total state budget for bison management this year is almost $178,000. That
compares with more than $494,000 spent last year. As of Jan. 31 last year, the
department had spent almost $72,000. Fourteen percent of the department's
funding is state or federal taxpayer money, while the bulk of the budget comes
from fees charged to livestock producers.

The money is well spent, says Beth Emter, communications coordinator for the
Montana Stockgrowers Association.

"It's important that we protect Montana's livestock industry from disease," Emter
said. "We feel that money will continue to need to be spent."

Brucellosis can cause cattle to abort and has been known to cause undulant
fever in people. But there is much debate over the amount of risk there is of
the disease being spread from wild bison to cattle. The risk is considered
especially low among bull bison because the disease is spread through the
birthing process.

DOL money is spent, among other things, on hazing operations and law
enforcement to deal with ever-present protesters. The Gallatin County Sheriff's
Department, which often assists hazing and trapping operations, last year
billed the state for almost $9,000 in services.

Figures for this year were not available, but Undersheriff Jim Cashell said
there has been less activity because only the one bison has been out.

The Gallatin National Forest spends about $100,000 a year on bison-related
issues, said Rich Inman, the deputy forest supervisor. That includes
administrative work such as weekly meetings on a permanent management
plan and environmental evaluations.

But, Inman said, funds also pay for daily checks of roads and snowmobile trails
to make sure protesters are not blocking access as well as dealing with
complaints and information requests from protesters.

Members of the group Buffalo Field Campaign, who oppose the state's stance
toward bison, live in the area and shadow the state's every move during the
winter. The nonprofit group has spent about $40,000 this year, said co-founder
Michael Mease. The group's annual budget is about $100,000, he added.

Protesters videotape hazing, trapping and killing of the bison, footage of which
has been replayed on the national stage, most recently on ABC's "Nightline" and
the A&E Network. They contend the state's stance toward bison is unreasonable.

"As everyone in the world is starting to see, this is not a threat to the Montana
cattle industry and is a waste of taxpayer money," Mease said.

<+>=<+>
Information Pages: http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm
Online Petition: http://kola-hq.hypermart.net
Greeting Cards: http://users.skynet.be/kola/cards.htm
<+>=<+>
if you want to be removed from the KOLA
Email Newslist, just send us a message with
"unsub" in the subject or text body
<+>=<+>