Hunt helps control bison population, disease

I think bison are majestic animals. But I must confess that they are not nearly as special to me as they used to be. In my childhood, the only bison I ever saw were in a wildlife preserve outside of Denver.

Now there's a bison "ranch" a few miles from my hometown in western Colorado. There's ground bison and bison roasts at the meat counter at my neighborhood grocery store.

Some biologists fear that an overpopulation of bison at Yellowstone could result in the bison passing brucellosis bacteria to domestic cattle, which causes them to abort their first calves. According to the National Park Service, wild bison from the Yellowstone population have not been known to transmit brucellosis. The risk is considered to be low, but if livestock become infected, livestock shipments out of Montana can be halted until testing and quarantine requirements are met.

This winter, the state of Montana will permit a total of 50 buffalo to be killed among 4,900 bison that are spilling out of the park in search of food. That's what? One percent of the herd?

The untold story here is that bison can be sent to slaughter if they test positive for brucellosis or if they go outside park boundaries and cannot be persuaded to return to "acceptance tolerance" areas. Other steps are taken, such as vaccinating bison or finding additional grazing land, but slaughter is one option.

If anything, the hunt is a safety valve. If the hunters who kill bison use the resource responsibly, it's fine by me. And I'll stick to that position unless I learn someone's killed one of these bison merely for a wall decoration.

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Marjorie Cortez is a Deseret Morning News editorial writer. E-mail: marjorie@desnews.com.