by Laura Zuckerman, Reuters
SALMON, Idaho, May 14 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Monday ordered a halt to the use of low-flying helicopters to herd wayward bison back into Yellowstone National Park after environmentalists argued that the flights were disturbing protected grizzly bears in the area.
Under a federal-state agreement, bison that wander outside Yellowstone each year must be returned to the park – or be destroyed – to prevent them from exposing cattle in Montana to brucellosis, a disease that can cause cows to miscarry.
This year’s helicopter “hazing” of bison to drive them back into Yellowstone has ignited fierce criticism from conservationists because the Montana Department of Livestock is conducting the flights as grizzlies are emerging from winter hibernation and are intensely searching for food.
The estimated 600 grizzlies inhabiting the region around Yellowstone are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, which makes it illegal to harass or harm the hump-shouldered animals.
In a legal filing, the environmental group Alliance for the Wild Rockies said the federal government’s own research showed helicopter hazing harmed those grizzlies, which depend on isolated tracts of territory in the Northern Rockies to forage.
“Helicopters cause them to flee to areas where they are likely to run into fatal conflicts, including problems with humans,” Michael Garrity, head of Alliance, told Reuters.
The National Park Service and the National Forest Service said in court documents that the Montana livestock agency maintains authority over bison once they have migrated onto state lands from the park and is responsible for the hazing operations.
Environmentalists argued that federal agencies were ignoring their own rules for protecting wildlife.
Montana Department of Livestock spokesman Steve Merrett declined to comment.
Siding with the conservation group on Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell issued a temporary restraining order requiring federal agencies to halt the hazing flights until further notice.
The restraining order was requested as part of a broader lawsuit filed last year seeking to ban such helicopter round-ups for good. Lovell has not yet ruled on the merits of the case.
The latest helicopter herding operation began last week on private and public lands outside the park targeting hundreds of bison, Garrity said.
Yellowstone bison, which number 3,700, are the last bison, or buffalo, in the nation to freely range on lands they have inhabited since prehistoric times.
Yellowstone bison are considered unique, or purebred, because they have not been crossed with cattle.
