Buffalo once thundered across this vast river valley in southwest Montana but now the only evidence of the animal that symbolizes the untamed American West is its image on a national park sign.

An American buffalo in an undated photo. Buffalo once thundered across this vast river valley in southwest Montana but now the only evidence of the animal that symbolizes the untamed American West is its image on a national park sign. [AP]

By the late 19th century, the systematic hunting of American buffalo, or bison, had cut their numbers from the millions to the dozens. Today, domesticated buffalo are commercially ranched throughout the West, but the nation's only wild herd of purebred bison is at Yellowstone National Park.

Now the herd is again at the center of a controversy because it harbors brucellosis, a disease that can cause stillbirths in cows. Nearly one in five -- 947 -- of the bison herd were sent to slaughter this winter for fleeing Yellowstone's snow-covered high country for food outside the park in Montana where cattle graze.

Bison advocates are outraged by the slaughter, which is authorized under an agreement between Yellowstone National Park and Montana's Department of Livestock. But Montana ranchers say the buffalo endanger the state's prized brucellosis-free status, which allows producers to ship their cattle across state lines without testing.

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