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28 Bison Transferred To Tribes Program

Twenty-eight Yellowstone bison were transferred to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation Jan. 13. The transfer was part of a program to divert more disease-free bison away from slaughter. Thursday’s group of Yellowstone bison transferred to the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of Fort Peck was the sixth transfer of its kind since the Bison Conservation Transfer Program launched in 2019.

Bison reproduce and survive at relatively high rates. Program managers cull or kill a certain number of the animals every year to keep populations steady within the park. Federal, state and tribal officials agreed this winter to cull between 600 and 900 animals.

According to park officials, bison are shot by tribal and state hunters as they leave Yellowstone during a winter migration. Others are rounded up while they leave the park and are sent to slaughter. Captured animals that test negative for brucellosis can be enrolled in the transfer program.

The animals transferred Thursday were captured in March 2020 at Stephens Creek. Twenty males completed quarantine in the park and a small family group of eight bison completed quarantine at Corwin Springs.

During the previous two years, 182 Yellowstone bison have been transferred to the Fort Peck Reservation through the program. Of those, 82 animals have been distributed to 18 tribal nations in 10 different states.

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