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And for those of you who understandably don't want to read through pages of government regulations, here's a quotation of the relevant paragraphs:
"2. Sexually immature bison (under 3 years of age)
a. Immature males—Male bison under 3 years of age must
pass a minimum of three consecutive ITG tests. The
first ITG test must be conducted when the ITG starts
the quarantine period, and the last consecutive
negative ITG test must be conducted after the animals
are at least 3 years of age. The second ITG test will
be conducted at least 180 days after the first ITG
test. There must be at least 12 months between the
first and last consecutive negative ITG tests.
b. Immature females—
Immature female bison under 3 years of
age not born in the facility and continually penned
within a test-negative ITG must be bred to a test-
negative male from a holding pen or ITG, complete a
gestation cycle, calve, and pass a minimum of three
consecutive negative ITG tests.
The first ITG test must be conducted when the ITG
starts the quarantine period before being bred. The
second ITG test must be conducted at least 30 days and
not more than 90 days after each female has calved, and
the third ITG test must be conducted 6 months after the
last animal has calved in the ITG.
Each postparturient female bison must have discharges,
fluids, and swabs collected and cultured within 5 days
after calving. There must be at least 12 months
between the first and last consecutive negative ITG
tests.
3. Calves—
Calves born in the ABQF from a test- and/or
culture-negative ITG of adult pregnant females may be
released from quarantine at 6 months of age or older
provided that all of the following conditions are met:
(1) there have been no reactor animals in the ITG
immediately after their birth or within 1 month prior to
their birth, (2) all calves in the ITG are serologically
test negative, (3) each adult in the ITG is serologically
test negative at least 30 days postcalving and culturally
test negative within 5 days postcalving, and (4) the adult
animals in the ITG have tested negative on three
consecutive herd tests over a 12-month period. For calves
born to females that were pregnant at the time of entrance
into the ABQF and/or calves born during a time in which
reactors are disclosed, the male calves would be
classified as “immature males” and be tested as in 2(a)
above, the females would be classified as “immature
females” and be tested as in 2(b) above, or the calves
could be neutered and released from quarantine without
restrictions."
Since the Yellowstone herd is known to carry Brucellosis, the calf would be looking at a minimum of six months in quarantine (and that's assuming it was promptly neutered - keep it sexually intact, and the quarantine period goes up).
No one said the National Parks were petting zoos. In the same light are they executioners? When a human is attacked by an animal in a park, due to human stupidity usually, they track it down and kill it. Why not just let nature take it course.
Letting Nature take its course is actually what the Park Service almost always does, actually. They don't kill animals which have attacked humans after being provoked (although sometimes they will relocate the critter to a more remote part of the park). They DO kill bears if the bear has launched a predatory attack on a human (which is rare), because that bear may well do it again. The goal is to keep both humans and animals reasonably safe, and to minimize potentially dangerous encounters between wildlife and the people visiting the park.
Why? The animal was going to die anyway, in stead of letting it starve they euthanized it humanely. Part of being a good steward of the land is realizing animals suffer and die and it just another part of the cycle of life.
And yet in other circumstances, the government spends huge amounts of funds on rescuing animals, and I've seen wildlife rescue places who have done wonders with a wide variety of animal species.
Your source has an obvious agenda. And the regulations allow titer-positive animals to be sent directly to slaughter without quarantine, provided they are transported directly to the slaughterhouse in an approved manner.
Unless you are cannibal or a vegan, you understand that our society treats human babies and animal babies differently. The mission of the park service is to preserve unimpaired natural and cultural resources, having a tame animal that directly contradicts that mission statement would in no way further the goals of the park service.
When an animal attacks a human it is often killed for the safety of the park visitors as that animal is more likely to attack again. It sounds like this calf was killed for essentially the same reason - it was rejected by the heard and had become habituated to humans and was approaching cars. Dozens of calves just like this one will starve to death in Yellowstone and Grand Teton this spring, and they will feed wolves, coyotes, and other scavengers. It is how nature works.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2mares
This is just for sake of argument and my suggestion was in jest but,
Why is there no way on earth?
No one said the National Parks were petting zoos. In the same light are they executioners? When a human is attacked by an animal in a park, due to human stupidity usually, they track it down and kill it. Why not just let nature take it course.
As well we often find abandon babies. Someone takes it out of the dumpster and brings it to the police station. Once they have the baby in hand should they put it back, see if the mother comes back and if not euthanize it. They are not an adoption agency. Humans are not endangered.
Last edited by OscarTheGrouch; 05-17-2016 at 02:35 PM..
Generally speaking, wildlife rescue operations are not government entities but are funded by donations and staffed by volunteers. And while their hearts are often in the right place, their rescue efforts are sometimes misguided.
Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi
And yet in other circumstances, the government spends huge amounts of funds on rescuing animals, and I've seen wildlife rescue places who have done wonders with a wide variety of animal species.
Letting Nature take its course is actually what the Park Service almost always does, actually. They don't kill animals which have attacked humans after being provoked (although sometimes they will relocate the critter to a more remote part of the park). They DO kill bears if the bear has launched a predatory attack on a human (which is rare), because that bear may well do it again. The goal is to keep both humans and animals reasonably safe, and to minimize potentially dangerous encounters between wildlife and the people visiting the park.
After a mountain goat killed a man in Olympic National Park in 2010, the park changed its policy to include "lethal removal" of a goat which has demonstrated aggression toward humans (no human provocation necessary).
Apparently, the aggression is probably an unfortunate side-effect of human presence in the park. They go after the salt that is in human sweat and urine.
From my understanding, this came after much deliberation and balancing between the "let the animals in the park be animals" and the safely of the human visitors.
Oh good grief have ya'll never bottle fed livestock, calves, foals, kids, piglets. Its not that hard people.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unsettomati
I agree with Oscar.
Several points:
1) Smokey Bear was a creation of the United States Forest Service (Department of Agriculture), which has as a primary responsibility of overseeing tree farms for the profit of the logging industry. Wildlife is a secondary concern for them. The USFS has nothing to do with the National Park Service (Department of the Interior).
2) Smokey Bear hails from an era in which feeding bears junk food was sanctioned by the NPS, as was the elimination of wolves as 'pests'. It's a relic of an era that we do not need to emulate.
3) To repeat, the NPS is not an animal-rescue agency. It concerns itself with species, not individual animals.
4) Hundreds of bison calves will die this year in the Yellowstone ecosystem because that's what happens every year. This one had the most painless, peaceful demise of all of them.
5) This is related to my frustration with people regarding pets abandoned at animal shelters - the "No, don't ever put them down!" crowd. If fewer limited funds were spent on warehousing animals instead of humanely putting them down, there'd be more funds to make lives of those animals that don't need warehousing better. I go to shelters and see the miserable old animals that languish for their 30 days, unhappy in a steel care, before they're suffering is mercifully ended finally, when it should have been ended immediately. And why do they languish? Not for their sake but to make feel better those people who want them to have 'a chance' at adoption, not matter how small that chance and no matter how much languishing must be done in total for those few old unappealing animals that do occasionally get adopted.
Oh for the love of Pete. No one says never put one down, my post was basically in jest thou I still think in this particular situation they could have just given it away instead.
1. Smokey was used to educate and prevent forest fires. He was a real bear.
2. Are you sure your not confusing Smokey with Yogi?
3. No one is suggesting the NPS be a rescue. NPS has a bison in hand due to human stupidity, a. give it to a local farmer or whatever to raise to slaughter or whatever or b. drive it back shoot it with phenobarbital (which isnt really a peaceful death) and watch it die or heck c. shoot it with a bullet and throw it on the grill.
4. so what. Yeah if it is abandoned and dies due to natural selection, but some dumb head brought it to them.
5. This is basically a cow. Doesnt need warehoused. A couple miles down the road from me is a ranch with a whole bunch of bison, grazing, that will probably be in someones freezer soon.
Really I have no problem with what the NPS did but reading all these serious reason why they couldn't or shouldn't have even considered an alternative given the situation just makes me wand to advocate for the bison.
After a mountain goat killed a man in Olympic National Park in 2010, the park changed its policy to include "lethal removal" of a goat which has demonstrated aggression toward humans (no human provocation necessary).
Apparently, the aggression is probably an unfortunate side-effect of human presence in the park. They go after the salt that is in human sweat and urine.
I'd forgotten about that incident. Sounds like the new goat policy is similar to the one the Park Service has with bears. A provoked attack is treated differently than an unprovoked one, which seems appropriate to me, since the former can be avoided by proper tourist behavior while the latter cannot.
Quote:
From my understanding, this came after much deliberation and balancing between the "let the animals in the park be animals" and the safely of the human visitors.
And I'm sure it's not an easy balance for the Park Service to strike (particularly given how eager the public is to view the animals, and how clueless many of them are about animal behavior).
Your source has an obvious agenda. And the regulations allow titer-positive animals to be sent directly to slaughter without quarantine, provided they are transported directly to the slaughterhouse in an approved manner.
Why dont you copy and past the relevant parts concerning brucellosis outbreaks and quarantine of bison in yellowstone. I assume you read all of it?
What exactly is my sources agenda and what is incorrect information.
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