HELENA -- Starting this week, state and federal agencies will begin capturing and slaughtering up to 300 bison, including 100 calves, that have entered Montana from Yellowstone National Park.

Ranchers packed the crowded meeting of the state Board of Livestock and generally supported the plan as critical to protect their industry.

However, a spokeswoman for the Buffalo Field Campaign vowed that her group would let Americans know through a media campaign about Montana's slaughter of the bison "moms and babies.''

Acting State Veterinarian Jeanne Rankin unveiled the bison plan Tuesday at an emergency meeting of the state Board of Livestock after reporting that repeated efforts to haze the bison back into the park had failed this spring.

Livestock Board members present all endorsed Rankin's plan as a means to help Montana preserve its brucellosis-free status, which is critical for the state's $2.5 billion cattle industry. However, it was Rankin's decision alone to make as state veterinarian.

The decision came in the aftermath but is not directly related to the state's first reported positive test for brucellosis earlier this month, said Christian Mackay, the new executive officer for the Montana Department of Livestock. Mackay said the state agency would be dealing with the bison problem, even if brucellosis hadn't been confirmed earlier this month in a cattle herd near Bridger.

Officials are still testing cattle linked to the herd near Bridger that tested positive for brucellosis, with the most recent tests finding negative results Mackay said. Officials haven't pinpointed the source of the brucellosis in the cattle, saying it might have come from elk, bison or other wildlife. The Buffalo Field Campaign official blames the spread of brucellosis on cattle.

Meanwhile, Rankin said officials from state and federal agencies began setting up traps in the West Yellowstone area on Tuesday outside Yellowstone National Park. Later this week, officials, using trucks, horses and a helicopter if necessary, will begin rounding up the bison.

The bison will be hauled by horse trailers to Montana slaughterhouses where they will be killed. The meat, which is safe to eat if properly cooked, will go to American Indian tribes and food banks that have requested it.

Mackay said the department will be exploring every options, including more hazing, to avoid capturing and killing as many bison as possible.

Cattle ranchers applauded the move as necessary to protect cattle from brucellosis, a disease that causes pregnant cows to abort their calves.

"It's important for this group to understand how deadly this disease is,'' said Jim Hagenbarth, a Dillon-area rancher and member of Montana Board of Livestock.

He said it's vital to find a solution that can be administered orally for wildlife and can be injected for livestock to eradicate brucellosis.

However, Stephany Seay, media and outreach coordinator for Buffalo Field Campaign, said brucellosis was first spread by cattle to wildlife, not vice versa. She said the bison in Yellowstone National Park, the nation's last indigenous wild herd, have every right to roam as migrating animals and blamed cattle ranchers for the bison's plight because "you won't even give them a little bit of room.''

Seay vowed that her organization would let the country know what's going to happen, as it has in past bison killings through national media coverage.

"Slaughtering these babies is going to be a political nightmare, I guarantee.'' she said.

Rankin quoted Yellowstone National Park officials as saying that there are now about 3,900 bison in the park.

Nearly 70 people, most of them ranchers, crowded into the governor's reception room in the Capitol. Most of the ranchers who spoke endorsed the plan.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer, himself a rancher, told the board that no one looks forward to the capture and slaughter of bison, but added, "There is a great deal of risk here.'' He said that Wyoming and Idaho had both lost their brucellosis-free status, although Wyoming regained it in September.

Schweitzer said he wrote the U.S. secretaries of Agriculture and Interior last year to propose some solutions to the problem. After some prodding, he got a response from the secretary of Agriculture, but has heard nothing from the Interior secretary.

Board members backed the recommendation, but acknowledged it will be controversial.park bison