Ted Turner gets OK for Yellowstone bison on ranch

Montana’s wildlife agency has given preliminary approval to a plan calling for 74 bison from Yellowstone National Park to go to billionaire Ted Turner’s private ranch. Officials hope to eventually use the bison to establish new herds on public lands. But conservationists see the move as privatizing Montana wildlife. The bison have been held in federal quarantine for the past several years to make sure they don’t have the animal disease brucellosis. Turner offered to hold them for five years — the duration of the quarantine program — in exchange for keeping 90 percent of their offspring. That could amount to about 190 animals to offset his costs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the quarantine in Corwin Springs, Mont., also opposes the move. Turner Enterprises general manager Russell Miller said Ted Turner stepped in after Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer asked if he would consider submitting a proposal for the animals. Turner wanted to help the state after prior efforts to relocate the Yellowstone bison had failed, Miller said. The animals would be kept on a 12,000-acre parcel within the billionaire’s 113,000-acre ranch south of Bozeman. State officials were initially reluctant to put the animals on private land. But McDonald said the bison faced possible slaughter if no home was found...read more