Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes In Montana, Not Zoos, To Get 145 Bison From Yellowstone

[hatrack]

(Reuters) - An Indian reservation in Montana will receive 145 bison from Yellowstone National Park that were quarantined to create a herd free of a disease that threatens ranchers' cattle, according to a government plan approved on Thursday.

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission agreed unanimously to give the bison to the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation to further the conservation of the country's last herd of wild, purebred buffalo.

The tribe was chosen instead of a proposal to distribute the iconic, hump-shouldered creatures to six organizations across five states, including New York's Bronx and Queens zoos. "It would be a great celebration at Fort Peck to make this happen," said Becky Dockter, chief legal counsel for Montana's wildlife agency.

The bison, now in confinement at a Montana ranch owned by media mogul Ted Turner, were part of a government experiment that quarantined the animals to produce a band free of the cattle disease brucellosis, which is carried by roughly half of Yellowstone's buffalo.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/17/us-usa-bison-yellowstone-idUSKCN0I601020141017?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews

[postulater]

1. Back with "The Good Hands People" now I hope.

Good move.

[madokie]

2. Cherokees here in northeast OK

got a herd last week. don't remember but seems like it was 17 females with some males to come later. The Cherokee Tribe have a lot of business interest around this area and are well accepted by everyone. They give a ton of money to our public schools and spend a lot of money on our rural roads and bridges. When they do a road or a bridge it is done right too, no half ass doing it just to get by with them