Can Bison Take Back the Range?

But as their numbers grew, this one-time sanctuary to the bison has become a cage. There are now approximately 3,400 bison in Yellowstone National Park most of the year; in a normal winter, the animals head south in search of food. This is unacceptable to Montana ranchers. Citing disease and the uncontrollable reputation of bison, they have successfully lobbied to chase them back into the park, capture them, and kill them every year they leave Yellowstone. The disease the ranchers fear so much? It's called Brucellosis, and here are two things you should know about it: A. it was a cattle disease first, and only transmitted to bison second and B. there has never been a documented case of a bison cow transmitting the disease to cattle. During the winter of 2007-2008, over 1,000 bison were killed anyway to prevent this scape-goat disease from spreading. Now, for the first time in a century, Montana is going to allow twenty-five disease-free bison to winter on contained public lands south of the park. It's a first step on the way back to their free, thriving conditions of American mythology. But it isn't nearly enough.