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Bison: Slaughtering the icon of Yellowstone

Wild bisons are allowed to migrate out of Yellowstone National Park and stay in parts of Montana year-round.  This was announced just about 3 weeks ago by Governor Steve Bullock.

The decision broke a longstanding impasse in a wildlife conflict that’s dragged on for decades. However not everything is so bright for bisons in US’s one of the most iconic protected areas. After the push of ranchers and land owners in Montana, US, government officials agreed to slaughter 600 to 900 bisons in Yellowstone National Parks. That’s because farmers are afraid of brucellosis and the potential for bison to compete with cattle for grazing space on public lands outside the park.

Government agencies aim to kill or remove up to 900 wild bison from Yellowstone National Park this winter as part of an ongoing effort to reduce the animals’ annual migration into Montana by driving down their population.

Park officials on Tuesday released details of plans for at least 600 to 900 bison to be killed by hunters or captured and sent to slaughter. That potentially would be the most in one winter since 2008, and it represents more than 18 percent of the current population of about 4,900 animals.

Bison migrate annually from the high country of Yellowstone to their historical winter grazing grounds at lower elevations in Montana. Since the 1980s, worry over the animal disease brucellosis has prompted the killing of about 8,200 park bison.

In this video you can see that the bison do not die immediately after being hit by the bullets out of the guns of the hunters.

On the other hand, native americans do not kill the buffalo as a sport but as part of their native cultural background. Even these historical rights are for debate, there seems to be a more common acceptance for the native americans to hunt the excess number of bisons.

Please also read: Bison meat for dinner?

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