WYOMING — One hundred and twelve bison from the Yellowstone herd were recently transferred to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, according to a press release issued by Yellowstone National Park today, Feb. 9.
“The movement of these animals constitutes the single largest transfer to date under the park’s Bison Conservation Transfer Program,” says Yellowstone.
According to the release, the transfer occurred during the week of Jan. 10 and was conducted by the National Park Service and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
The 112 bison transferred were a large family group of seven males, 53 females and 52 calves. Fort Peck Indian Reservation is located in Poplar, Montana.
According to the park, a total of 294 bison have been transferred from Yellowstone to the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes at Fort Peck since 2019. “Approximately 170 of those bison have then been further distributed to 23 Tribes across 12 states in partnership with the InterTribal Buffalo Council,” states the release.
Every bison transferred went through a multi-phased brucellosis quarantine and will be submitted to ongoing testing protocols at Fort Peck before being released on the tribal lands.
According to the release, the park and APHIS intend to enter 250 new animals into the program this winter.
“It is important we continue to look for opportunities to build on the success of this program in order to move larger numbers of disease-free bison to Tribes across the country, while also achieving our future goal of eliminating shipments to slaughter,” said Superintendent Cam Sholly.
