That the park is now planning on killing 600-800 more migrating bison this year is unforgivable. But that’s not enough to satisfy the cattle ranchers. Now they want to treat elk the way they have treated bison, killing them indiscriminately because of the mere potential that they might transmit brucellosis to cattle.

Having successfully contained bison, ranchers in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park were caught by surprise when some of their herds that had not been in contact or even near bison showed up with brucellosis. The only place they might have gotten the disease, so their reasoning goes, is from wild elk. But as everyone knows, elk are not bison, and are not so easy to find, herd, corral, vaccinate or quarantine.

And so, reason the ranchers, the best and easiest thing to do is kill them or, in their vernacular, exert “lethal control.” In the meantime, they’re holding out their hands seeking funding from hunter license fees for fencing their private property to keep the elk out of their feeding and calving areas.

Although it is illegal for the general populace to harass wildlife, Fish, Wildlife and Parks already allows ranchers to haze and kill elk until the end of April. But now, they want to extend that to mid-May, well into elk calving season.