Bison were nearly driven to extinction in the 19th century and have partially recovered. Conservation management practices including roundups, branding, and culling raise significant welfare concerns for individual animals.
Bison management practices cause welfare harms at multiple levels. Annual Yellowstone roundups to manage brucellosis involve helicopter herding — an intensely stressful experience for these reactive animals. Capture and testing in chutes causes acute fear and injury. Bison sent to slaughter face the additional welfare burden of transport stress. The rationale for population control is often political rather than strictly ecological. Improving bison welfare requires developing less invasive brucellosis testing methods, better transport standards, and honest assessment of whether politically-motivated culls can be replaced with hazing and range management alternatives.