herd

Officials say the plan includes putting 110 bison into brucellosis quarantine to produce disease-free bison.

Herd managers expect to reach that number soon.

It wasn't immediately clear when the council would make a decision.

That's 23 percent lower than the year before but higher than the 10-year average of 5,399 elk.

The survey showed more than 7,500 elk in Yellowstone and areas of Montana north of the park.

There are no treatments to combat the malady, and research has found that culling infected animals does not work.

Bateson says one of the bison is due to give birth in the next few weeks, which will add another member to the herd.

The deer were killed in 12 outings in January and February.

A Yellowstone report says 179 bison have been transferred to Native American tribes for slaughter and 359 have been killed by hunters as of last Friday.

So far this winter, tribal hunters have taken 80 bison and state hunters have harvested 19.