Despite an executive order signed by Governor Steve Bullock on May 22 that restricts Montana Department of Livestock agents from entering “private property without landowner permission unless there is an imminent threat of disease transmission from bison to livestock or people”, Montana Department of Livestock agents trespassed onto the property of West Yellowstone resident Ed Ryberg’s property on June 23. The reason, there were bison on his property that they felt compelled to haze back into Yellowstone National Park. They don’t just haze them — using helicopters, horses, ATVs, and cracker shells mind you — into Yellowstone National Park, they haze them deep into the neighboring state of Wyoming.
Ed Ryberg isn’t too happy about this either, as can be ascertained from his letter to the Missoulian newspaper.
As he succinctly points out, there was no imminent threat of transmission of brucellosis to livestock or people on June 23 when the Montana Department of Livestock showed up at his door to inform him they were going to violate his private property rights.
Arguably, based on decades of experience in Wyoming, there is no imminent threat of brucellosis transmission from bison to anything, let alone during the time between when bison have given birth and before they become pregnant again in August and September.
Of course, as Matthew Koehler points out in his comment on the article, the right wing militia types and Democrats who are afraid to speak against a fellow Democratic Governor are silent on the matter.
I guess that there is a special class in Montana who merits private property rights, and it’s not you, that is unless you have a sacred cow.
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