Judge clears way for Yellowstone bison slaughter

A federal judge on Monday denied a request from environmentalists to halt the execution of buffalo at Yellowstone National Park, a ruling that clears the way for hundreds of buffalo to be shipped to slaughter. More than 500 buffalo, or bison, have been corralled in recent weeks in the park after their search for food caused them to wander from the park into Montana, where ranchers fear the bison will transmit brucellosis to cows. The disease can cause cows to miscarry their young. Federal and state agencies - including Yellowstone and Montana Department of Livestock - that oversee the nation's last purebred herd of wild bison had planned to kill straying bison when conservation groups sued to stop the slaughter...more