March focuses on bison slaughter
From Gazette Staff
About 75 people - some on foot and others on horseback - crossed Yellowstone County Friday, entering the final stretch of a 500-mile trek they hope will bring attention to the slaughter of bison in Yellowstone National Park.

Gazette photos by David Grubbs
An unidentified Lakota Indian breaks the crest of a hill on horseback Friday on a long trek to Yellowstone Park. A band of Lakotas are riding on horseback and in cars from Rapid City to Gardiner to show their concern for the slaughter of bison outside the park.

"This is a nonviolent spiritual walk to remind people that the indiscriminate killing of these sacred animals continues despite public outcry," said Rosalie Little Thunder, a walk organizer and an elder of the Lakota nation.

The group, made up of mostly Native Americans from several different tribes, left Pryor Friday morning and planned to camp and rest in Laurel before continuing to Columbus Sunday.

They left Rapid City, S.D., on Feb. 7, and plan to complete their walk on Feb. 27 at the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner. The group is walking about 30 miles each day. At night they camp, conduct prayer serves and convene talking circles with community members and other tribal elders along the route.

About 1,100 park bison were shot or shipped to slaughter in the winter of 1996 to prevent the animals, some which carry the disease brucellosis, from passing the condition on to Montana livestock. The bison leave the park in search of food in lower elevations. Brucellosis can cause spontaneous abortion in cattle.

Although the state and federal management plan remains in effect, mild winters this year and last have kept the numbers of bison killed low. So far this year, 15 bison have been captured and killed, according to walk organizers.