"Yellowstone Bison OK'd To Start New Herds Outside Park"

"Wild bison from Yellowstone National Park that are deemed free of cattle disease could be safely used to establish new herds elsewhere across the American West without posing a risk to livestock, a U.S. Department of Agriculture study concluded."

"The findings raise hopes of park managers, Native American tribes and wildlife advocates that efforts to restore bison populations derived from the nation's last pure-bred band of wild bison will face less resistance from the cattle industry.

But representatives of cattle producers who have long fought to keep Yellowstone's wild bison, or buffalo, from straying outside the park say their concerns are not entirely allayed by the study."

Laura Zuckerman reports foor Reuters March 1, 2014.