A bison on the Ted Turner property near Oshkosh, Neb. Turner also has a bison ranch northwest of Yellowstone National Park.
/ AP photo
MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press Writer
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Billionaire Ted Turner is getting 88 bison from Yellowstone National Park through a faltering Montana program that was supposed to put the disease-free animals on public or tribal lands.
State Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Joe Maurier announced the decision Tuesday.
The animals were spared several years ago from a periodic slaughter of bison leaving Yellowstone because of worries about disease. They're now in a joint federal-state quarantine compound in southern Montana's Paradise Valley.
Montana officials didn't want the animals on state land. They also turned down requests for the animals from a Wyoming state park and at least two Indian reservations.
Turner will care for the animals for five years and in return wants 75 percent of their offspring, an estimated 188 bison. He already owns more than 50,000 bison but wants the Yellowstone animals because of their pure genetics.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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