Montana halts plan to kill 300 wandering bison

HELENA, Montana (Reuters) - Federal officials and the state of Montana said on Friday they had agreed to scrap a plan to kill 300 bison, including an estimated 100 calves, roaming outside the confines of Yellowstone National Park.

The Montana Board of Livestock said on Tuesday it would capture and kill the bison after news that seven Montana cows had tested positive for brucellosis, a disease that can cause stillbirths in cows and infects some of the Yellowstone bison herd.

An outcry ensued and officials instead have proposed putting stray bison on a truck and transporting them back to Yellowstone, one of the country's most famous national parks.

"This will keep bison off private land and at the same time keep us from having to destroy calves," Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said in the state capital, Helena. "This is a step in the right direction."

Suzanne Lewis, superintendent of Yellowstone, said officials already moved 280 bison to within the national park boundary on Thursday, although many of those started moving again after they were placed inside the park.

"Bison are unpredictable," Schweitzer said.

There is no documented case of brucellosis transmission from bison to cows in the wild but Montana's influential cattle industry is calling for a forced thinning of Yellowstone bison.

Cattle producers say the wandering bison pose a threat to the state's brucellosis-free status, which allows ranchers to ship cows across state lines without testing. Montana has a $1 billion livestock industry.

Under a deal between the federal government and Montana, bison that wander from Yellowstone can be slaughtered. The park has 3,900 bison, an animal emblematic of the American West.