For Immediate Release
May 29, 2008
CONTACT: Steve Merritt
Public Information Officer
Montana Department of Livestock
406-444-9431
MDOL Takes Bison Home
Acting under directives from the Montana Board of Livestock, and with the cooperation of Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) partners, the Montana Department of Livestock (MDOL) today conducted a bison hazing operation on Horse Butte peninsula west of Yellowstone National Park.
The operation was approved last week by the Board at its regular bimonthly meeting, which was attended by members of the public and livestock industry representatives.
Board of Livestock executive director Christian Mackay called the operation a success.
“It was a clean sweep, and all of the bison that were on Horse Butte are now back in the park where they belong,” Mackay said. “Enough snow had melted to be able to conduct the operation safely, and green-up was sufficient to offer adequate feed for the bison to hold.”
MDOL moved approximately 110 bison off of the Horse Butte property formerly owned by the Munns brothers, and an additional 40 bison off of the north side of the butte back into the park.
Although state statute (MCA 81-2-120) gives MDOL authority to conduct bison operations on private property, the use of a helicopter to haze the bison precluded the need to exercise that authority.
Despite a melt-off and green up that was much later than normal, state veterinarian Marty Zaluski said hazing operations on the west side of the park this operational season were successful.
“With the completion of today's operation, the risk management goals of the IBMP to maintain spatial and temporal separation between bison and cattle has been maintained,” Zaluski said.
The state legislature has identified bison – which carry a zoonotic disease known as brucellosis – as a species in need of special management, and has given MDOL broad authorities to manage wild bison.
This is the eighth winter the IBMP has been used to guide bison and brucellosis risk management actions. Under the IBMP, MDOL works with other agencies to protect and maintain Montana’s brucellosis-free status while cooperating to conserve a viable, wild bison population. Management actions are necessitated, in part, by a population estimate which was at a near-record high of 4,700 bison within Yellowstone National Park at the beginning of this year.
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