Yellowstone National Park

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Yellowstone National Park is done capturing wild bison for the year after rounding up almost 550 of the wild animals and sending most to slaughter as part of a population control program, park officials said.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks announced Tuesday they’re closing to all visitors, effective immediately.

The closure comes days after area county health officials and Montana and Wyoming’s governors called for the parks to close to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Biologists have recorded a grizzly bear sighting in Yellowstone National Park, marking the first of the year in the park.

Biologists saw the bear Saturday near Grand Prismatic Spring, a hot spring in northwestern Wyoming, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported.

Yellowstone National Park has started capturing bison migrating outside the park and will hold them in pens for possible slaughter as part of a population reduction program, officials said Monday.

The annual operation began Sunday and by mid-day Monday six bison had been captured as they entered the Gardiner Basin along the Yellowstone-Montana border, park spokeswoman Linda Veress said.