| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| Weekly
Update from the Field June 11, 2009 |
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Update from the Field
* Thunder Beings Bless Horse Butte Ceremony
* Quarantined Buffalo Rejected by Northern Arapaho
* BFC Needs Summer Volunteers in Yellowstone
* Last Words
* Kill Tally
NOTE: Updates from the Field will be coming to you every
other week until mid-November,
when we will resume weekly distribution.
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Update from the Field
Bull bison in Yellowstone National Park. BFC file photo.
In the past two weeks, the Montana Department of Livestock,
Yellowstone National Park, and other agencies have continued
hazing, forcing wild buffalo off of Horse Butte and other
areas along the Madison River corridor. These areas have
no cattle, and never will. There is absolutely no excuse
for the federal government to be foolishly wasting tax
dollars to satisfy the selfish whims of Montana's livestock
industry on our public lands, and private lands that welcome
buffalo. If the three or four small hobby ranchers who
live around Yellowstone and Gallatin National Forest don't
want buffalo co-mingling with their cattle for the few
short months they are present, then the Department of
Livestock should hire a cowboy for those purposes, to
monitor the ranches. The rest of the land should be available
to roaming buffalo; the wounded earth needs their healing
abilities.
The agents ever so rudely brought their hazing operations
deep into Yellowstone National Park again this year, much
to the chagrin of shocked park visitors. Yellowstone likes
to sugarcoat hazing activities by saying "if we didn't
haze them, we'd have to kill them," but for more
than a decade they've been in the business of doing both.
As we saw from the numerous broken legs, separated moms
and babies, and the deteriorating condition of the buffalo,
hazing is not benign. It is harmful, unnecessary harassment
that causes stress, injury, and sometimes death. Ironically,
harassing wildlife is illegal in Yellowstone, yet Park
Rangers are doing it to buffalo with a smile, a wink,
and tip of their cowboy hat.
Right now, Buffalo Field Campaign is deep within Yellowstone's
interior, bringing the truth to inquiring minds and lovers
of wild buffalo. We will spend the whole summer in the
Park, speaking with park visitors about what has actually
been taking place. Buffalo Field Campaign will show the
realities of what Yellowstone and the Montana Department
of Livestock are doing to America's last wild population
of bison. And through our tabling efforts, we will help
raise awareness and gain more support for the cessation
of the harassment and killing of buffalo. Through meeting
people like you, and building a strong advocacy for wild
bison in Montana and throughout North America, we will
continue to make ripples in the pond, turning them into
waves, and one day the tidal wave will come that finally
sets the buffalo free, like a flood upon the plain.
Roam Free!
~Stephany
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* Thunder Beings Bless Horse Butte Ceremony
Chief Arvol Looking Horse and many friends of the buffalo
gather on Horse Butte. BFC Darrell Geist photo.
On Sunday, May 31, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation
Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, traveled hundreds
of miles, with his family, to come pray with us again
for the buffalo. This was his first time coming to Horse
Butte, where many of the last wild buffalo bring forth
the next generation.
Nearly 200 people arrived to join the ceremony, coming
from as close as right around the corner, and as far as
California and South Dakota. New and familiar faces were
ready to enter into something powerful, to open our hearts
to the change for which we are all ready. We were there
to give our collective energy and prayers to a place that
the buffalo hold sacred. We gathered at the site of the
Horse Butte trap; scorched earth, beaten down over the
years by the brutality of agents harming and trapping
wild buffalo. Fresh buffalo tracks were all over the place;
they had already begun to reclaim and restore. And we
were there to offer our prayers for the buffalo, to lend
them our hearts, strength, energy; and to pray that the
people who hurt the buffalo would soon see another way
of being, a way of harmony and honoring, respect for the
sacred earth upon which we all walk and which gives us
all life.
Standing around a sacred fire, Chief Looking Horse reminded
us that the circle we formed was inspired thousands of
years ago by the buffalo, who gather in a circle to defend
and protect their family; each one of us is part of the
circle, a leader, an important voice to help defend the
buffalo who can heal the wounded earth.
After weeks of hot, sunny days, large, dark clouds began
to gather and approach, letting rain fall upon the earth,
and all of us standing there. Chief Looking Horse laughed
and said that the Thunder Beings were pleased. The rain
and thunder were a good sign that our prayers were being
heard. People sacrificed their comfort and embraced the
rain and thunder; the thunder that could be the clouds
bringing the storm, or a distant sound of many buffalo
hooves running free, arriving to shake the earth awake
once again.
You
can read Chief Arvol Looking Horse's full statement and
view additional photos.
Buffalo Field Campaign is so very honored and grateful
to have Chief Looking Horse, Paula, and their family come
to Montana to pray with us on the buffalo's chosen ground.
Thank you so much for your time, your wisdom, and your
generous and caring hearts. We give thanks to Karrie Taggart
and Horse Butte Neighbors of Buffalo, Rosalie Little Thunder
and Seventh Generation Fund's Tatanka Oyate Project for
helping make this ceremony possible. We thank all the
beautiful buffalo people who were here with us in person
and in spirit. We give thanks to Seeds of Peace and those
who brought dishes for the wonderful community meal that
followed. We look forward to meeting you all again - on
Horse Butte, and throughout the vast lands of this country
- in the midst of great buffalo herds living free.
On June 21, join Chief Arvol
Looking Horse and many others by sharing a Sacred Fire
wherever you may be. This is an international day of prayer
for environmental peace; the Sacred Fire is a common thread
among cultures globally and binds us all to one another
and the earth mother that we all share.
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* Quarantined Buffalo Rejected by Northern Arapaho
A young buffalo, born free in Yellowstone, confined to
the government's quarantine feasibility study. BFC file
photo.
The Northern Arapaho tribe was ready to welcome to the
Wind River reservation forty-one captured Yellowstone
buffalo who had suffered years of confinement and testing
within a
state-federal quarantine feasibility study, just north
of Yellowstone in Corwin Springs, Montana. After years
of testing, forty-one buffalo were deemed "disease
free" and the Northern Arapaho tribe was ready to
bring them home, honor them as wildlife, and provide them
with 30,000 acres on which to roam. Buffalo advocates
were pleased to know that these buffalo would finally
be set free from their government tormentors, returning
to a people who have co-evolved with these sacred beings
for thousands of years.
On the heels of the tribe's announcement, however, the
livestock industry of Wyoming and Montana raised a ruckus
about allowing even disease-free buffalo to return to
their native lands; by their objection they underscored
the obvious issue that the war against bison is not about
disease, but a prejudice against bison and control of
grasslands. A bill was introduced in the Montana legislature
which would have prevented the disease-free buffalo from
going to the Wind River reservation, or anywhere else
save the fenced in National Bison Range or the slaughterhouse.
Luckily, that bill failed. The Northern Arapaho were free
to proceed and the buffalo were ready to travel to their
new home. Ironically, close upon the heels of the bill's
failure, the Northern Arapaho suddenly announced that
they no longer wanted the quarantined buffalo. It was
stated they feared the emergence of latent brucellosis
infection; the exact echo of the livestock industry's
message. The Northern Arapaho had been so excited about
the return of the buffalo. What could have changed their
minds so suddenly? We can only imagine the disappointment
and heartache of the people who were ready to welcome
the return of the buffalo. What will happen to these buffalo
now, and to the rest who remain in the government's scientific
experiment? The slaughterhouse will likely be their final
destination after all, just like the families they were
stolen from. In the end, as we knew it would, the quarantine
feasibility study has failed the buffalo. This series
of events has shown again that the issue is not disease;
otherwise all disease-free public bison herds would not
be fenced in. It's all about the grass, and with the livestock
industry in control, only cattle are free to enjoy it.
And while the government attempted to disguise their quarantine
project as a "restoration" program, it's very
essence is a de-wilding program. Real bison restoration
happens on the buffalo's terms, with one foot in front
of the other, via migration corridors, not quarantines
locked doors.
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* BFC Needs Summer Volunteers in Yellowstone!
BFC is looking for summer volunteers to help with outreach
in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Talking
to park visitors who are in the company of the buffalo
we are trying to protect is a great way to raise awareness
and make more friends for the buffalo. If you would like
to spend some or all of your summer with BFC, please contact
Chris at volunteer@buffalofeildcampaign.org
or call 406-646-0070.
See you in West Yellowstone in the land of the last wild
buffalo!
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* Last Words
"We are here once again to pray for the Pte Oyate,
the four-legged relatives that have perished in Yellowstone
and for the little ones born here into suffering... Let
it be known that the habitat of the wild buffalo is sacred
ground, a SACRED SITE for the Lakota, for all native people,
and for all humanity who hold reverence for Creation...
With deepest respect for the challenges of leadership,
we call upon another relative, President Barack Obama,
to join us to begin shaping a Nation-to-Nation agreement
for the Yellowstone buffalo."
~Excerpted
from a statement made by Chief Arvol Looking Horse,
19th Generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe,
at a May 31, 2009 ceremony held on the Horse Butte Peninsula
in honor of wild buffalo.
------------------------------
* Kill Tally
AMERICAN BISON ELIMINATED from the
last wild population in the U.S.
2008-2009 Total: 18
2008-2009 Slaughter: 0
2008-2009 Hunt: 1
2008-2009 Quarantine: 0
2008-2009 Shot by Agents: 1
2008-2009 Highway Mortality: 16
2007-2008 Total: 1,631
Total Since 2000: 3,698*
*includes lethal government action, quarantine, hunts,
highway mortalities |
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Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the
U.S.
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