Where the buffalo roam, so may brucellosis

Paying ranchers to let bison roam in areas typically used for cattle grazing — rather than killing the giant animals — could reduce the risk that the bison will transmit a bacterial disease to cows, ecologists say. Some 1,600 Yellowstone National Park bison were killed last winter to control the spread of brucellosis, a disease that causes miscarriages, weight loss and reduced milk production in cattle that inhale infected bison afterbirth or aborted fetuses. Brucellosis was widespread in cows in the 1800s, but cattle in most states are now free of the disease. No cases of bison-to-cattle transmission of brucellosis outside of captivity have ever been documented, according to the National Park Service, but they are periodically slaughtered as a precaution. Yellowstone's 4,000 bison typically stay in the Montana park's higher elevations, but they sometimes graze at lower levels near cattle-grazing areas if heavy snow or ice makes food scarce. Limited numbers are allowed to roam in those areas as part of the Interagency Bison Management Plan devised by government agencies including the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Montana Department of Livestock and the state's Fish Wildlife & Parks department. If too many bison leave the park and are found to have antibodies to brucellosis, they're killed....