Jimu News trainee reporter Hu Li
Intern Zhou Yujia
The New York Times reported on Dec. 6 that Wildlife Conservation has agreed to slaughter 900 bison in Yellowstone National Park to address the over-abundance of bison in the park.
A century ago, bison were endangered animals. In 1902, the number of bison was less than 100, and now there are 5400 bison in Yellowstone.
Source: The New York Times
Yellowstone bison are growing at a rate of 10 to 17 percent each year. Over the past two decades, wildlife officials have issued annual guidelines on how many bison should be killed to curb this rapid growth. Still, park authorities say human intervention, such as hunting, has done little to solve the problem.
In fact, the National Park Service shot only two bison outside the park last year. Most of the 834 bison that were removed last year were sent for brucellosis testing and then transferred to tribes, which sent the animals to slaughterhouses. Brucellosis is known to cause cattle to miscarry or give birth to dead pups.
According to the National Animal Service, too many bison in Yellowstone will lead to a collapse of the ability of Yellowstone's ecosystem to regulate, and other animals will starve to death on a large scale or wander to Montana in the northwest of the United States, where farmers fear that their own cattle will be infected with brucellosis because of these "uninvited guests".
The National Animal Service said: "Animals in Yellowstone Have the potential to transmit brucellosis from livestock to farmers. ”
Prior to this, the United States had hunted animals in large numbers from time to time. According to the Washington Post, there are about 1,800 gray wolves in western states such as Oregon, California and Washington. But in 2020, former U.S. President Trump removed wolves from the list of the U.S. Endangered Species Act. After that, 8 gray wolves were found "poisoned" in eastern Oregon within 5 months.
Gray Wolf of Oregon. Source: The New York Times
In February, Wisconsin held a wolf hunt in which 218 wolves were killed in 63 hours.
Michael Paul Nelson, a professor of environmental ethics and philosophy at Oregon State University, said: "Without the protection of the bill, it would be particularly important to strengthen Oregon's anti-poaching laws. ”
Sristi Kamal, Senior Representative for the Northwest Territories of Wildlife Defenders, said: "We need to do animal conservation work on the ground and promote coexistence between our humans and wildlife so that we and our animals can share ecological scenery. ”
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