GYA Bison Brucellosis
"Oh, Give Me A Home, Where Disease-Free
Buffalo Roam..."
"Brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Area"
-National Academy of Sciences
"Although it has been stated that brucellosis cannot be eradicated from free-ranging wildlife without eradicating the wildlife, it is certain that brucellosis can be eliminated from YNP with combinations of vaccination and culling."
Brucellosis...It's an incurable disease that in humans is called "undulant fever." Undulant fever, chills, profuse sweating, abdominal and joint pain, extreme tiredness, exhaustion, and sometimes anorexia, weight loss, emotional and neuropsychiatric problems. Occasionally, the disease causes death.
Brucellosis and undulant fever still represent one of the leading threats to public health in other countries throughout the world. In the U.S. the disease now is virtually nonexistent, thanks to the National Brucellosis Eradication Program which began in 1934. Brucellosis is the reason milk in America is pasteurized. It is also the reason that America's livestock industry, states, and federal government combined have spent over $10.7 * billion dollars on eradication efforts that continue to this day. [*1997 dollars]
But wildlife in the Yellowstone area-especially bison-now pose the nation's only significant remaining threat of transmitting brucellosis. When the high population of bison in Yellowstone exhausts the Park's forage resources, and the bison then migrate into the state, the animals pose a serious threat of spreading the disease to the state's cattle and people.
Ranching & Montana's Open Spaces
Cows, cowboys and the ranching lifestyle have been central to Montana history. They still play a crucial role in ht estate's economy-agriculture s Montana's largest industry. Families that ranch and farm are responsible for the stewardship of the vast majority of the state's open spaces and natural beauty. And the ranching lifestyle is a driving force in Montana culture, helping to define the ethic of neighborliness and sense of community that give us good reason to call or state "the last best place." But the ranching way of life and all it offers are in jeopardy. One threat is the risk of cattle catching brucellosis from bison. This could cripple ranching's ability to survive by causing the loss of the state's brucellosis-free status, obtained in 1985 after 5 years of effort, including the destruction of thousands of cattle and the expenditure of over $30 million.
Saving Bison April 1998:Montana Department of Livestock employees worked with the Park Service and others to herd hundreds of bison back into Yellowstone. In managing bison that migrate into the state, Montana adheres to the same policy agreed to by the National Park Service and other government agencies. Bison are protected and herded back into the Park to the maximum extent possible. At the same time, because scientists believe the Yellowstone bison herd is too large for the Park's forage resources to support it, and because science and federal court decisions both confirm that the herd's ability to thrive over the long-term won't be compromised, the policy also calls for migrating bison to be removed wherever necessary to ensure there is no risk of transmission.
"Because of its potential to be transmitted to humans, brucellosis is one of the most regulated disease of cattle in the United States."
"There is no risk of... transmission to cattle from bison if bison do not leave Yellowstone National Park.... But an expanding bison population searching for forage is the fundamental force pushing bison out..."
"The likely consequence of shifting the boundary of protection from YNP to surrounding public lads is that... even greater numbers of bison will have to be dealt with."
-National Academy of Sciences Report Commissioned by Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt, 1998 publication.
"We the people of Montana grateful to God for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of our mountains, the vastness of our rolling plains, and desiring to improve the quality of life, equality of opportunity and to secure the blessings of liberty for this and further generations..."
--Preamble, Constitution of the State of Montana
All Montanans cherish the state's natural resources, including wildlife of all species. The bison that roam in Yellowstone National Park and at the National Bison Range on the Flathead Indian Reservation occupy a special place In every Montana's heart.
However, may Yellowstone bison carry brucellosis, a disease that threatens the state's public health, livestock industry, and economy.
The State of Montana must maintain its brucellosis-free status, but also is committed to doing everything possible to protect bison that migrate outside Yellowstone National Park. When bison leave the Park, state and federal agencies work together to herd as many of them back inside Yellowstone as possible.
