Just don't call it hunting

The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. Oct. 9, 2004 — On a spring day in 1990, there was chaos near the border of Yellowstone National Park.

Bison were running. Hunters were facing off with activists who were trying to keep them from killing the bison. And D.J. Schubert was in the thick of it, leading the protesters.

Cameras captured it all, igniting a public outrage that Schubert believes ultimately led the state a year later to halt bison hunting. Today, the wildlife biologist and his fellow activists promise the same craziness including more bad publicity for Montana if the state allows hunting to resume this winter, as planned.

"Once again, you're going to give the state of Montana and hunters a black eye," Schubert, of The Fund for Animals, said Friday. "It's going to be an embarrassment for the state and hunters."

Mike Mease of the Buffalo Field Campaign agrees. He's planning to document the hunt himself.

"I can guarantee you lawsuits. I can guarantee you public outcry," Mease said. "These animals are sacred to a lot of people."

The controversy heats up each winter when the bison leave Yellowstone in search of food. Ranchers in Montana worry the bison will transmit brucellosis, which can cause cattle to abort. Activists counter that there's no proof that bison can spread the disease to cattle in the wild.

Several state and federal agencies allow bison that wander out of the park to be captured and tested brucellosis. Bison that test positive are sent to slaughter.

Some hunters believe they should have the opportunity to take a rare trophy if bison are to be killed anyway. Wildlife commissioners agree barely, voting 3-2 this week to allow bison hunting to resume for a monthlong season tentatively set to start in January. Future hunts would go from mid-November to mid-February, with the number of permits varying each year.

About 670 bison were killed in hunts in the 1980s most in the winter of 1988-89. The hunts drew outrage in part because of the way they were conducted. Wardens led each hunter to a bison, peacefully grazing when it was shot at close range.