為野牛請願：停止濫殺黃石公園的野牛群

Bison advocates and environmental groups filed an emergency petition Thursday with the U.S. Interior Department urging the agency to stop the slaughter of wild bison migrating out of the Yellowstone National Park. Nearly a third of the Yellowstone bison herd has been killed by state and federal authorities since last fall under a controversial livestock disease management plan that few stakeholders believe is working.

The petition, filed by more than a dozen environmental groups and bison advocates, calls on the Interior Department to suspend enforcement of the Interagency Bison Management Plan, agreed to in 2000 by federal and state officials.

The plan permits the capture and slaughter of bison that roam outside of the park due to the potential that the animals could transmit the abortive disease brucellosis to cattle.

The National Park Service estimated the bison population in the park was some 4,700, a figure that is now closer to 3,100. In the past six months, federal and state officials have captured and slaughtered at least 1,341 bison that have roamed beyond park boundaries in search of food.

"The petition raises a red flag that unprecedented, large scale slaughtering of wild bison is jeopardizing their long term survival," said Schubert, lead author of the petition.

The petition comes in the wake of additional evidence that the Yellowstone bison plan is stumbling. A report released last month by the Government Accountability Office, GAO, criticized the failure to expand areas outside the park where the bison can safely roam. It noted that decisionmaking by federal and state officials lacks accountability and transparency and "more often resembles trial and error than adaptive management."

There is dispute over the threat posed to cattle by brucellosis-infected bison - there has never been a documented case of transmission by wild bison to cattle.

There appears little risk of bison and cattle intermingling in any case, as fewer than 2,000 cattle graze on the winter grounds outside the park where the bison typically migrate.

The presence of the disease, which can cause stillbirth and spontaneous abortion, could put at risk the Montana's brucellosis-free status, potentially costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars.

But there appears to be a double standard at play. Elk, which can carry the disease, far outnumber bison and are permitted to range beyond the park.

"There is a way out of this senseless slaughter," said Louisa Willcox, senior wildlife advocate for the National Resources Defense Council. "I think everyone recognizes that a change is needed here - but the same issues of conflict with cattle and property rights issues always short circuit public debate. Those issues do not apply at Horse Butte. This proposal gives the buffalo a chance to recover while the state and federal authorities get time to look at the criticism from community groups and the GAO report."