The case of the missing buffalo

Call the Hardy boys. It’s the case of the missing buffalo.

Officials in Yellowstone National Park have opened a criminal investigation after someone cut a fence at the Stephens Creek quarantine facility releasing 52 bull bison back into the wild.

According to the Cody Enterprise, the bison were being tested for brucellosis before being donated to Indian tribes in Montana. Some of the bulls had been in the facility for nearly two years.

The park doesn’t have a clue. Whoever used bolt cutters to free the bulls last week is long gone. So are the bison.

Since they began searching Jan. 16, park rangers have only found one.

Now I realize the brief government shutdown hampered efforts to locate the missing animals, but what about those first few days when the trail was fresh? How hard can it be to follow the tracks of 52 adult bison that weigh upwards of a ton?

Impossible, it appears.

The one bull was discovered at park headquarters in Mammoth, about 10 miles up the valley from Stephens Creek. He was easily identified by the ear tag he and his fellow escapees are wearing.

I suspect the others followed suit and returned to the park where thousands of their ilk are spending the winter.

And why not? The valley downstream narrows into Yankee Jim Canyon. The country to the south rises steeply and is thickly timbered. The Yellowstone River and Highway 89 to the north, while not exactly barriers, would certainly slow down the herd had it fled that way.

Up the hill to Mammoth was the logical escape route. Where else would you expect them to go? It’s where they came from, after all.

But it’s too late now.

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said he is heartbroken over the incident that appears to have put the kibosh on plans to “repatriate these bison.”

He said he will look into whether it would be possible to transfer another batch of brucellosis-free bison to the tribes this year, although no date had previously been announced for delivering any of the quarantined bison to any tribe this year.

Park spokeswoman Morgan Worthin said the escape will delay ongoing quarantine discussions between the Interagency Bison Management Plan partners. That’s probably not a big deal considering the talks had been going on for years with no end in sight.

No ear-tagged bison in sight either. It’s time to call in Frank and Joe.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected].