[Alpendave]

So how does the wolf debate fit into this situation?

[trestle]

There's likely a vet or two on staff with YNP, might try contacting them directly through the typical NPS channels.

[treeswarper]

Here ya go for a start. Montucky Vets

[cefire]

There is a genuine problem of bison overpopulation in the winter/spring - the grazing areas are pretty well used up. As long as a population with viable genetic diversity is maintained in YNP, I'm entirely onboard with culling. At this juncture, the most important thing to do would be to increase the acreage that are unfenced/open to bison. A difficult problem to take on though!

[Ski]

[Klapton]

[Ski]

I don't know about "tastier", but from what I hear buffalo is supposedly better (in terms of fat and cholesterol) than beef. Might not require the millions of tons of antibiotics that they feed cattle, either. Maybe I should try some out... Tatanka Take Out is only a few blocks from my house, but it looks like they just do mostly burgers. I never have been a big "burger fan". Never did get an answer from that outfit in Montana. Maybe they're still trying to dig up evidence that their claims have some basis in fact.

[cefire]

The cows aren't the real challenge, it is private land ownership, free-roaming animals, and the fragmentation of land. Worked with NCPA when I lived in Montana trying to reduce fencing (and increase migration corridors) for pronghorn. It is difficult business and all power is with the land-owner. Now imagine free-roaming bison and all of the problems (e.g., car accidents) that will inevitably crop up. As much as folks want to reduce the convo to cattle farming, there's not as much "beef" to it. The real issues are how we allocate land.

[Ski]

^ I'm not so sure about that. Besides, you didn't take my comment above at face value. You tried to read something into it.

[Klapton]

[Ski]

They did run around in the wild before they killed them all off... but those were Aurochs, so the nit-pickers would probably want to call them a different species... but cows are cows: big and stupid. Yeah... I guess I'd support the extinction of an entire species if it was cows. I just don't see that proverbial "trophic cascade" thing happening in their absence. Maybe I'm missing something... would the dung beetle populations suffer? And while beef can indeed be tasty, lamb is way mo' betta and dumb sheep don't take up nearly as much space as dumb cows, so you'd have more room for bison. It's a win-win! So yeah: kill all the cows. Works for me.

[cefire]

[Ski]

hmmmmm it was? make a note: this is the first time in the history of the internet a discussion thread has veered off topic. Sorry, I fail to understand how there could be "too many bison" when the Great Plains once supported populations of them that were in the millions. Moreover, as mentioned above, apparently they're better eatin' than cows, and there does exist the possibility they're not quite as stupid. Cows, on the other hand, are not indigenous to the Western Hemisphere. That in and of itself should be valid enough argument for their total extermination.

[Ski]

by the way... just in case you haven't figured it out yet: For the record: I hate cows. If you've ever been around cows, if you've ever had cows crap on your front porch, if you've ever had cows eat your vegetable garden and your rhododendrons, if you've ever had a bunch of cows trample the bank along the river and crap in your kid's swimming hole, maybe you'd understand better. Kill all the cows.

[treeswarper]

I will gently disagree. I have been thankful for cows. After a day of working on steep hillsides, it is nice to run into a well packed cow trail that leads back to the truck. Think of a trail vs more side hill groping. Cows, like elk, can make nice trails and burgers, but they cannot log out their trails.