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PROTESTS CONTINUE Agency begins to build corral to hold buffalo By JOE KOLMAN Gazette Bozeman Bureau WEST YELLOWSTONE - The state Department of Livestock on Friday continued its work to build a bison corral at Horse Butte, while conservation groups continued to bash the agency's management policies regarding the animals that wander out of Yellowstone National Park. Agency employees were moving materials to the site Friday evening, according to Sue Nackoney, a spokeswoman for the Buffalo Field Campaign, a group that opposes the capture and killing of bison. On Thursday, agency officials cleared out snow and a 150-foot-long blockade from the road leading to the planned capture site at Horse Butte. Two members of Buffalo Field Campaign were arrested and charged with attempting to thwart removal of the blockade. On Thursday evening, four more members of the group were arrested as they were walking near four bison in the Horse Butte area, Nackoney said, adding that members of the group think the four men were wrongly arrested. Under an interim-bison management plan, Livestock officials can haze bison back into the park, shoot them or capture and test them for the disease brucellosis, which in cattle causes them to abort their young. Those in the livestock industry say that any risk of brucellosis transmission from bison to cattle is too great, and measures must be taken to prevent it. Once built, the Horse Butte trap will be used to capture and test bison for brucellosis. Bison that test positive in the field for exposure to brucellosis are shipped to slaughter. Those testing negative are set free. But one environmental group on Friday called into question the accuracy of the field tests. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition issued a press release citing tests conducted in Iowa that showed 15 of the 17 bison killed this winter were not infected with the disease. In all, 19 bison have been killed this year. The Bozeman-based group also said 15 of the bison were bulls, which scientists say are a low risk for transmitting the disease. "The state doesn't want to be bothered with lab results, with public opinion or with golden opportunities to move away from its policy of slaughter," Greater Yellowstone Coalition Director Mike Clark said. Department of Livestock officials did not return calls seeking comment Thursday or Friday. A press release issued by the agency Friday afternoon did not mention Thursday's action or the Horse Butte pen. Director Marc Bridges said in the release that a bull bison in another capture facility in the area seriously gored another bull, and the injured bull was shipped to slaughter. Bridges said he was pleased that the winter has been mild and that under the plan the department has been able to protect hundreds of migrating bison. "On the other hand," Bridges said, "we wish these bison were disease-free so that they wouldn't pose disease transmission risks that threaten Montana's agricultural economy."
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