Millions of tourists visit Yellowstone National Park each year to witness bison living in freedom. Although the Park claims there is still space for more, Montana, a neighboring state, is contemplating legal action.
A major magnet for tourists to Yellowstone National Park is the bison. The park also hopes to increase its herd by roughly 15%. However, the state of Montana, which borders Yellowstone, is concerned about that and is contemplating legal action. Olivia Weitz from Wyoming Public Radio is shown here. Byline: Olivia Weinz Maren Powell and her 4-year-old son, Makai, stopped along a trail just past some of the bubbling mud pots in Yellowstone National Park. They claim to have come here in the hopes of seeing bison. The vacation is our first, Maren Powell. However, this is the grandparents’ second vacation. MAKAI: The horns on the infants aren’t the largest. Their horns are just slightly larger than average.
WEITZ: Some of America’s last wild bison can be seen here, together with their mothers, who are idly tanning on the warm sand. Over a century ago, the park played a crucial role in preventing their extinction. There are currently 5,200 bison living in the park. A new management scheme permits six thousand animals. However, the state of Montana wants to reduce the herd size in half and, should it increase, is threatening to sue to defend cattle ranchers. According to Raylee Honeycutt of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, an organization that advocates for ranching, park bison pose a threat to ranchers’ livelihoods because, during the winter, the animals frequently search for food on private and public acreage outside of the park. RAYLEE HONEYCUTT: As the bison population grows, the possibility.
WEITZ: Some Yellowstone bison are carriers of the reproductive illness brucellosis, which can also infect cattle. The Montana beef sector might be severely impacted if it is discovered in a single cow, leading to the quarantining of entire herds. HONEYCUTT: It goes without saying that we are unhappy with the decision to expand the herd of bison. WEITZ: In 1995, Montana filed a lawsuit due to the worries of ranchers. Since then, there has been an annual population reduction agreed upon through court mediation. Superintendent of Yellowstone Park Cam Sholly says he doesn’t understand why the state is suing at this time. CAM SHOLLY: I don’t get the reasoning. No case of brucellosis transmission between cattle and bison has been reported.
Leave a Reply