Bison in Yellowstone National Park. Photo from Daniel Mayer / Wikipedia

The Fort Peck Tribes of Montana received about 100 bison from Yellowstone National Park.

The animals were culled from the park almost a decade ago amid controversy that sparked litigation. They will be used to help the tribes maintain their traditions.

“It starts to bring back our ceremonies that we kind of forgot,” Tpm Escarcega, a tribal employee who helped escort the bison to the reservation, told the Associated Press. “In our culture, we treat the buffalo as a people, and we’re the two-legged nation. They deserve respect.”

Officials in Montana are allowed to kill bison from Yellowstone if they wander outside of park boundaries out of fear the animals will transmit brucelllosis, a deadly disease, to cattle. But Gov. Steve Bullock (D) is proposing to ease the policy as long as the herd population stays belong 3,500.

Their numbers currently hover around 4,900, the Associated Press reported.

Get the Story:
Tribes to receive Yellowstone bison held by Turner (AP 11/12)
Bison plan allows them to roam if population drops (AP 11/12)

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Montana to transfer bison from Yellowstone to Fort Peck Tribes (10/17)
Tribes in running to receive bison from Yellowstone National Park (06/17)
Tribes join applicants for bison from Yellowstone National Park (05/07)