First off I have to say that I'm not too well versed on anything buffalo, and especially the current state of animal regulations of free roaming herds in southern Montana.
This is another one of those weird quirky melding of state and federal agencies efforts to totally screw up the management of a wild species.
I'd never given buffs much thought. Mascot of the local University's football team down here in CO, logo plastered on cars and beer mugs. They used to raise them over on state highway 52, you can tell the place because they have the high fence made out of tube steel painted white. High fences and wild animals was never a thought I wanted to ponder too deeply.
In a nutshell.
There's a free ranging herd in Yellowstone. We already knew that. And there's some kind of controversy with ranchers and some sort of disease that buffalo have and they're afraid will spread to cattle. Knew that too.
The things I didn't know are that the disease, brucellosis, has never been spread from buff to cows, as far as is known. What I didn't know is that brucellosis also exists in elk and it does spread from them to cows. But then ranchers don't mind elk, don't mind them at all, especially since they can make a lot more money selling the rights to hunt private land and make a lot more money on elk than on cows.
Another wierd thing. Buffalo are managed by the Montana Department of Livestock not Fish, Wildlife, and Parks as they should be. I mean isn't that just the problem with buffalo, they're wild.
It gets better.
There is almsot no winter range in the park. So times like today when snow is deep the buffalo want to go lower to where they can get at the grass. And the Livestock Department drives them back onto the park or just kills them. Driving a wild animal in deep snow midwinter using snow machines, helicopters, and what not isn't as pretty as it sounds. Animals are harassed to death. For people who are into big game it's kind of a no no to harras animals, they shoot dogs for doing just that.
Meanwhile at the instigation of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation the US government bought a wildlife corridor that would give the buffalo access to tons of winter range. But unlike elk and deer the buffalo are the purview of the Montana Department of Livestock who want to keep buffalo numbers low and within park boundaries.
So you're left with an unusual overlapping advocacy of interest groups with animal rights folks and hunters more closely aligned with each other than usual. Sometimes both advocates reside within the same person.
If you have a few minutes for a good read I'd suggest taking a look at Hal Herring's article called The Killing Fields
It's a great read, complete with mountain man wana bees and buffalo breaking through the ice while being pushed. And yup, it's got Buffalo Hippies.
Anyone with an actual knowledge of the issue is welcome to chime in. Also add any tags as you might see fit.
Somewhere I read today shooting a buffalo is about like shooting a parked pick up. Another interesting picture described is humongous gut piles. A mature elk has a gut sack probably well over 100lbs, gosh knows what a buffalo is like. Magpie heaven.