Milestone Reached: No Yellowstone Bison in Stephens Creek Facility

The Stephens Creek facility is north of Gardiner. The bison were captured and taken to the facility when they left Yellowstone National Park to graze on lower ground beginning in February.

Some of the nearly 700 bison which were released had been held in the Stephens Creek Bison Capture Facility since the beginning of February. Release of small groups of bison began the first week in May to see if they would migrate back in to the park During the time period that bison have been released from the holding facilities, the number of free roaming bison in the Gardiner Basin has fluctuated between 200 and 300.

These bison have been observed moving both east and south as they migrate back to
interior ranges.

In addition, a group of 58 bison plus several newborn calves were released from the Brogan Bison Facility in Corwin Springs and were moved back into the park on Tuesday.

Fifty-three yearling through four-year-old bison remain in the Corwin Springs facility as a part of a USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service initiated research project to determine whether brucellosis-positive female bison can be prevented from shedding Brucella bacteria by treating them with a contraceptive vaccine.

The study requires a total of 80 to 100 bison, including some bison testing seronegative and some testing seropositive for brucellosis. At the end of the seven-year study, these bison will not be returned to the park. All bison that remain seronegative during the course of this study will be consigned to conservation programs or tribal restoration projects. Seropositive bison from this study may be consigned to slaughter at the conclusion of the research.

No bison have been shipped to slaughter from the north boundary during the winter of 2010-2011.

RELATED STORIES: Captured Yellowstone Bison to Be Released; Members of Congress: Scrap the IBMP; Yellowstone Bison Killer: It Was Self-Defense; Two Roaming Yellowstone Bison Killed in Gardiner; Legal Challenges to Yellowstone Bison Accord Possible; Final IBMP Approval At Hand for New Yellowstone Bison-Management Plan; Montana, Feds Discussing New Bison Grazing Outside Yellowstone

 

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