Poll Finds Strong Opposition to Yellowstone Bison Killings

HELENA, Montana, May 11, 2004 (ENS) - A nationwide survey finds that 75 percent of Americans disapprove of slaughtering buffalo that wander outside the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park.

Federal and state officials have killed 278 buffalo this year and hazed and harassed wild buffalo nearly every day this spring.

The survey was commissioned by The Humane Society of the United States and conducted by Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates in April 2004.

Out of 900 adults in the United States, 75 percent of respondents said that they disapproved of the policy allowing the slaughter, with 59 percent of those polled indicating that they "strongly disapprove."

"It is a travesty that this lethal policy continues year after year despite such strong public opposition," said Wayne Pacelle, CEO-Designate of The Humane Society of the United States.

The killings and hazings are part of a controversial federal/state management plan that allows the slaughter of bison that wander outside the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park.

Officials are required to try and haze the animals back into the park, but if that fails they are authorized to capture the bison and test them for brucellosis - a bacterial disease that can cause spontaneous abortion and stillborn calves. Infected animals are slaughtered, but officials are also authorized to kill roaming bison without testing them.

The plan rests on the fear that the bison will transmit the disease to domestic livestock.

Buffalo advocates say the killing the Yellowstone bison is not about science, but rather about land use and politics.

They note there has never been a documented brucellosis transmission from wild buffalo to livestock.

The disease is potentially transferred by the consumption of afterbirth from a mothering animal that is infected - meaning that bulls and calves pose virtually no risk of infecting Montana livestock.

Advocates argue few if any cattle graze on adjacent lands during the winter.

The Yellowstone herd should be afforded the upmost protection, conservationists add, because it is descended from 23 wild bison that survived the mass eradication of the 19th century. It is the largest remaining single population of genetically pure bison.

There are signs the U.S. Congress is hearing the concerns of conservationists regarding the management of the Yellowstone bison herd.

Legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives calls for a thee year moratorium on the bison slaughter to revisit the plan and would mandate efforts to allow Yellowstone bison to use public lands for winter forage adjacent to the park. The federal "Yellowstone Buffalo Preservation Act" has 60 cosponsors to date.