Bison trapping operations begin in Yellowstone National Park

HELENA DORE Chronicle Staff Writer
Feb 24, 2022
https://billingsgazette.com/news/local/bison-trapping-operations-begin-in-yellowstone-national-park/article_6ce7aae7-6f43-557e-8221-4e17a0085f4c.html

Yellowstone bison — A lone bull bison saunters down a Yellowstone National Park road in December 2021. The Park Service has begun the process of creating a new management plan for bison. Photo courtesy Jacob W. Frank, NPS

HELENA DORE Chronicle Staff Writer

Yellowstone National Park announced Tuesday that bison trapping has begun near the park’s northern border, meaning efforts to cull the population through shipment to slaughter are underway.

Trapping at the Stephens Creek administrative area began late last week, according to the park. Bison are captured at the corrals near Gardiner as they migrate beyond the park’s boundaries in search of food.

Park officials did not confirm how many bison have been trapped at Stephens Creek so far this year. After bison are trapped, those animals that aren’t enrolled in a quarantine program are slaughtered. Meat and hides are distributed to tribes.

Buffalo Field Campaign, a group that advocates for free-roaming wild bison on the landscape, wrote last Friday that their patrol witnessed the capturing of 23 adult bison at the Stephens Creek facility last Wednesday.

Another 11 adult bison were seen captured there on Thursday, according to the group.

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During an interagency meeting in Missoula last December, park biologists estimated that the Yellowstone bison population numbered at around 5,400 animals.

Officials who manage Yellowstone bison under the Interagency Bison Management Plan agreed to reduce the population by between 600 and 900 animals last year.

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