Bison, Brucellosis, and Law in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Publication Type:
Journal ArticleSource:
Land and Water Law Review, Volume 28, Number 1 (1993)Keywords:
animal studies; bison (Bison bison); brucellosis; disease; ecology; ecosystems; laws and legislation; mammals; management; natural resource management; wildlife health; brucella; brucella abortus; bacteriaAbstract:
Not long ago, endless bison herds roamed the Great Plains. With the advent of white settlement, though, the bison were slaughtered nearly to extinction. Only a last second rescue effort saved a priceless part of America's natural and frontier heritage. Today remnant populations of bison are preserved in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, where they represent the nation's largest - and most visible - free roaming bison herds. But these bison are now running out of room. Because bison carry brucellosis, a disease that causes cattle to abort, they are viewed as a threat to domestic livestock and subject to being killed upon leaving the parks. In recent years, six different lawsuits have been filed in federal and state court challenging federal bison management policies. Western senators have even sought to bring Congress into the fray. The controversy reveals deep divisions between agricultural and wildlife interests, and it reflects a serious lack of clarity in the existing law.The current controversy centers around the fact that roughly half of the Yellowstone bison test positive for brucellosis, and the fear that they may transmit the disease to domestic livestock upon leaving the parks. Although there is no documented evidence that bison have ever passed brucellosis to cattle on the open range, research has demonstrated that bison can infect cattle in a controlled environment. Neither cattle nor wildlife can be fully protected against the disease by vaccination. The Yellowstone bison herds, nurtured by the National Park Service's "natural regulation" wildlife management policy have grown in population, and they are now dispersing beyond park boundaries to forage on surrounding lands during the harsh winter months. But once the bison leave the park, they are likely to encounter domestic livesotkc, either on Forest Service grazing leases or on lower elevation private ranch lands. And once the bison pass onto these adjacent lands, they become the responsibility of state game and fish departments and subject to being shot.
Notes:
Found at Yellowstone Research LibraryNatureBib ID: 17656
