Episode 3: Born Free

Episode Length: 29:09

Focus

This episode explores the relationship between cattle ranchers and bison, with particular focus on fears of disease transmission between animals, and the annual hunting of bison around Yellowstone National Park

Keywords

brucellosis (disease), ranchers, cattle, bison hunting, elk, land management

Episode Outline

These outlines are intended to help you locate ideas and topics more easily, but these are narrative episodes with many interlocking themes and ideas, so you may want to share segments that cross multiple points in the outline.

MINUTES: 00:00 - 02:39

Bison hunt at Yellowstone.

02:40 - 08:40

Cattle rancher Druska Kinkie’s passion for animals and opposition to the expansion of the bison range.

08:41 - 10:44

Druska’s concern about what the spread of brucellosis could do to ranchers and their cattle.

10:45 - 13:39

Feeling that the general public doesn’t understand farm and ranch life, and the genuine care and connection ranchers feel for their animals.

13:40 - 15:09

Only elk have transmitted disease but elk roam free while bison do not.

15:10 -18:30

Competition for grass between cattle and wildlife leaves ranchers feeling threatened.

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BREAK

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19:00 -22:09

Cale Thomas, cattle rancher on the Flathead Reservation, thinks bison and cattle can co-exist.

22:10 - 29:09

Bison hunt on the north side of Yellowstone National Park, and the history of tribal hunting rights:

• How introducing more bison likely means more hunting

Video Excerpt

Druska Kinkie, who owns a ranch in the Paradise Valley, near Yellowstone, describes how difficult it is to strike a balance between land, cattle, and wildlife in the area—and how much she cares about all three.

Visual

Aerial footage of Paradise Valley, Montana