Yellowstone bison: Are removals of bison and shipments to meat processing facilities precedent setting for national parks?

From the National Park Service

Are removals of bison and shipments to meat processing facilities precedent setting for national parks?

• The use of removals to manage wildlife and their habitats is not a new practice in NPS units.
• During 1908 to 1968, personnel relocated about 810 bison from Yellowstone National Park to other areas and shipped about 4,200 bison to meat processing facilities. Since 1968, an additional 7,980 bison have been culled from the population.
• From 1930 through 1968, natural resource managers from Yellowstone National Park and the State of Montana relocated about 13,500 elk, shot or trapped about 13,000 elk, and permitted hunters to harvest another 45,000 elk north of the park.
• Bison are also periodically captured and removed from populations in Wind Cave, Badlands, and Theodore Roosevelt national parks, as well as the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Many of these bison are provided to American Indian tribes to support their nutrition and culture.

• What is the current bison population?
• Why are bison being removed from the population?
• How will the bison be removed from the population?
• Why are bison being shipped to meat processing facilities?
• Why can’t you harvest bison through hunting instead of shipping them to meat processing facilities?
• Why don’t you just keep all the bison within Yellowstone National Park?
• Are the bison leaving Yellowstone National Park because it is overgrazed?
• Why don’t you just let the bison roam freely outside Yellowstone National Park?
• Why don’t you allow native predators to control bison numbers?
• Why can’t you ship bison to other areas or quarantine facilities rather than meat processing facilities?
• What happens to all the meat, hides, horns, etc. from bison shipped to meat processing facilities?
• Why are bison managed differently from other wildlife and not allowed to move freely into Montana and disperse to new areas?
• Are removals of bison and shipments to meat processing facilities precedent setting for national parks?
• What are the economic costs of bison removals from Yellowstone National Park?
• Has the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) been successful at accomplishing its goals?

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