| BFC Buffalo Field Campaign
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| Voices
from the Community |
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SCHWEITZER
HEARS FROM MONTANANS OPPOSED TO BISON POLICIES
Residents, Hunters, and Bison Advocates Communicate Distaste
with Current Bison Management
BFC Press Release 01/29/07
HELENA, MONTANA. Montana residents from Yellowstone's gateway
communities in Gardiner and West Yellowstone, along with hunters
and members of Buffalo Field Campaign, will meet with Governor
Brian Schweitzer at 2:30 this afternoon to discuss their objections
to Montana's bison hunt and the current management of Yellowstone
bison.
The meeting coincides with Montana's unveiling of the state's
new quarter, featuring the skull of a bison. "The new quarter
is appropriate for Montana under the Schweitzer administration,"
said Mike Mease of the wild bison advocacy group Buffalo Field
Campaign. "A bison skull is the perfect symbol for a state
whose policies favor dead bison over live bison. We were hopeful
that Schweitzer would uphold the promises on which he was elected,"
Mease added, "but under his watch nearly every buffalo
to enter Montana has been killed."
Every bison to migrate into Montana across Yellowstone's western
boundary this year has been killed and there are currently no
bison in the area. During the most recently completed phase
of the West Yellowstone bison hunt, which ran from January 1
to 16, the lack of bison in Montana resulted in 24 out of 25
hunters being unable to fill their tags.
Glenn Hockett, President of the Gallatin Wildlife Association,
calls the Schweitzer administration to task: "Using hunters
to systematically kill every bison that enters Montana is not
something I am proud to be a part of. This bison hunt, not the
hunter, is to blame. It is flawed on so many levels. The IBMP
is severely flawed as well and we can no longer blame the Racicot
or Martz administration or the DOL for that matter. This is
now the Schweitzer administration's responsibility."
The Gallatin Wildlife Association is strongly opposed to Montana's
management of wild bison and, along with the Buffalo Field Campaign,
has asked Montana to provide year-round habitat for wild bison
and to allow the species to establish a resident population
before a hunt is considered.
Residents living within the bison's migration corridors are
furious at the state's lack of tolerance for bison, the danger
posed to their communities by the current bison hunt, the disregard
for their property rights and the treatment of bison.
"I've lived here all my life, I'm 51 now, and I love the
fact that we are still able to co-exist with the wildlife,"
wrote Horse Butte resident Ann Stovall in a letter to Schweitzer.
"I am really upset with this whole bison hunt, that it's
is being allowed near a residential neighborhood. It's bad enough
that you are allowing these so-called hunters to hunt these
magnificent animals in the first place, but what is really bad
is that the hunters and the Department of Livestock are given
priority above the safety of the people and animals that live
out here." Ann's letter can be read in full at:
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/media/bisonhunt0607/anne_stovall_letter.html.
On Tuesday, a hunter illegally shot a bull Yellowstone bison
on private property within Hebgen Lake Estates where no hunting
is allowed. Though Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP)
confiscated the bison and recommended prosecution, a Gallatin
County judge refused to look at the video evidence and ordered
the bison meat be given back to the hunter.
"Do state buffalo hunt regulations stampede our property
rights?" Asked Ed Millspaugh, president of West Yellowstone's
Hebgen Lake Estates, whose home is less than 125 yards from
where the hunter fired upon the bison.
Hebgen Lake Estates, a buffalo-friendly neighborhood, issued
a notice to the State of Montana in February 2006 outlining
their concerns and displeasure with Department of Livestock
activities in their neighborhood. They received a response from
the DOL that essentially said their concerns would be ignored.
Read the covenant at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/aboutus/voices/hebgen_lake_estates.html.
Wild bison are native to Montana yet ecologically extinct everywhere
outside of Yellowstone National Park. Montana provides no year-round
habitat for bison. Bison management currently falls under authority
of the Montana Department of Livestock, who, with state and
federal assistance, manages them as a nuisance animal. Once
hunting season ends, wild bison will be managed by the Department
of Livestock. There is never a time in Montana when wild bison
are not hunted, hazed, shot, or slaughtered.
Buffalo Field Campaign opposes Montana's bison hunt. BFC maintains
that habitat should come before a hunt and calls on the state
to provide year-round habitat for wild bison and for the restoration
of a viable population on public lands in Montana. BFC has proposed
real alternatives to the current mismanagement of Yellowstone
bison that can be viewed at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/actnow/solutions05.html.
American Bison once spanned the continent, numbering between
30 and 50 million. The Yellowstone bison are genetically unique
and are America's only continuously wild herd, numbering fewer
than 4,000 animals, .01 percent of the bison's former population.
1,873 bison have been killed since 2000 under the Interagency
Bison Management Plan. Last winter Federal and State agencies
killed or authorized the killing of more than 1,010 bison. So
far this winter two bison were captured and sent to slaughter
by Montana Department of Livestock agents and hunters have killed
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