The American Bison (Bison bison), a symbol of conservation, the west, and a time when more species of megafauna roamed North America, is currently the victim of a poor management plan. At one time, American bison roamed east towards the Atlantic Ocean, but “the bison’s near-demise, much like the actual demise of the Passenger Pigeon, was commercial hunting.” The “last free-range herd of [American] bison” roams Yellowstone National Park. However, cattle ranchers fear that American bison may transmit brucellosis, a zoonotic disease. Once cattle become infected with brucellosis, states lose their brucellosis-free status. However, a new study is arguing that the current management plan is costly and unnecessary. From the San Jose Mercury News, USA:

The bison were killed in an attempt to halt the spread of brucellosis in Montana cattle. The infection causes miscarriage and reduced milk production in cows; ranchers fear bison could spread the bacteria when winter snows drive the bison out of the park in search of food. The current management plan – “hazing” stray buffalo with helicopters and snowmobiles and shooting those that refuse to return to the park – is both costly and controversial. It also might be avoidable, said Marm Kilpatrick, an evolutionary biologist at UCSC.

“Most years, the risk of transmission is really, really low,” said Kilpatrick, lead author of a new study which found only sporadic risk of brucellosis transmission in the areas surrounding Yellowstone.

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Compensating ranchers for allowing bison on their land would cost half of what the current management plan costs – $2.5 million a year according to a 2000 estimate, Kilpatrick said.

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Just two brucellosis cases within two years can rob a state of its coveted “brucellosis-free” status. Many areas refuse to import beef from brucellosis-infected states. Montana lost its brucellosis-free classification in September 2008 after two outbreaks traced to wild elk.

“It’s a disastrous event, but it’s a very rare event,” Kilpatrick said of bison-to-cow transmission. If Montana were divided into two zones so infections in the Yellowstone area wouldn’t affect distant ranches, “the cost of dealing with the transmission event would be smaller than the current cost of management,” Kilpatrick said.

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