WWF urges National Park Service to permit bison quarantine at Fort Peck N/A
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WWF
By Chidinma Agu
Lagos, Jan. 5, 2017 (NAN) The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on Thursday urged the National Park Service to issue a record of decision supporting the allocation of surplus bison to Fort Peck for quarantine.
World Wildlife Fund Manager, Online Advocacy, Ms Sara Thomas, gave this advice while urging environmental activists and wildlife lovers to persuade the Service to take action on the quarantine of bison.
Thomas said that the Fort Peck tribes in northern Montana, North America, have established a quarantine site at which they could host surplus Yellowstone bison until it was established that they were free of Brucellosis.
According to her, this will ensure that the bison are not sent to slaughter but instead contribute to conservation and cultural restoration efforts in North America.
“When winter weather forces bison to seek food beyond the borders of Yellowstone National Park, bison that cross park boundaries are culled through legal hunts or captured and shipped to slaughtering facilities.
“This is done in order to manage potential conflicts with neighbouring landowners because of the perceived risk of transmission of the disease Brucellosis to livestock.
“Though the resulting bison meat is used to feed tribal communities, many of them would prefer to be recipients of the priceless resource of live bison from Yellowstone National Park for conservation and cultural purposes,’’ she said.
Thomas said that North American tribes with strong cultural and spiritual ties to bison are natural partners in the restoration of this iconic North American species.
“Today, Native Americans have an opportunity to support the bison, which supported their people for countless generations.
“On January 2016, Yellowstone National Park sought public comment on their Yellowstone Bison Quarantine Plan Environmental Assessment.
“World Wildlife Fund and its 300,000 dedicated activists spoke up to save the bison and asked that the animals be quarantined at Fort Peck Reservation in the future until certified disease-free.
Thomas said that the National Park Service had still not issued its final decision record supporting tribal quarantine.
According to her, this delay is putting the lives of the 40 bison captured during the Yellowstone National Park Service’s winter operation in February 2016 at risk.
She said that the Park was preparing to capture over 100 bison this winter.
Thomas said that unless efforts to initiate permanent quarantine got under way, the 40 bison being held temporarily by the park, and those captured this winter, would be sent to slaughter. (NAN)
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Edited by Felix Ajide
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