Local residents herded into a small auditorium Tuesday night to speak up for the bison and horses in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.
In the Doyle Conner Building on 34th street, about 90 people gathered, leaving standing room only.
They listened to David Jowers, park manager and biologists, present the Florida Park Service’s draft plan to remove the majority of the park’s bison and horses, including all of the males.
Park staff answered questions that many in the audience had been wondering since the plan first came to light in September.
“Are you going to literally kill these creatures?” activist Lisa Grossman asked.
“No, we don’t plan to kill anything,” said Dan Pearson, environmental specialist for the Florida Park Service.
“Would you purposely sell them to people you think are going to slaughter them?” she asked.
“I hope not,” he answered.
UF student Sen. Andrew Hart announced the Senate’s resolution to denounce the removal of the bison and horses, which was passed Tuesday.
Hart read part of the resolution, which stated the Senate “implores the Florida Park Service to find another solution.”
He received a round of applause.
Jim Weimer, a park biologist, said one of the reasons the bison and horse herds are being culled is because they are not vital to the ecosystem.
“There’s a big difference between natural resources and cultural resources,” he said. “The livestock have no ecological role in these resources.”
