Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Yellowstone bison cull ends

Hunters, slaughterhouses and agencies using Yellowstone National Park bison for research combined to cut the park’s bison herd by 600 this year. This winter, tribal and Montana-licensed hunters combined to kill 263 bison that crossed the west and north boundaries of the park, according to a Yellowstone press release last week. Another 258 bison were rounded up and given to Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes or the InterTribal Buffalo Council for slaughter. Finally, 60 bison were transferred live by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a research project. The Interagency Bison Management Plan, agreed to by four agencies 14 years ago, relies primarily on hunting to reduce the Yellowstone bison herd. Yellowstone’s announcement of the cull said the bison were “removed” in what the managers called “an adaptive management strategy to manage population abundance and distribution.” Yellowstone officials estimate that the park’s population now stands at around 4,000 bison. The plan calls for a population of 3,000 to 3,500 animals. The bison cull is complete for the winter, Yellowstone officials said in the statement.  Source

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