Exclusive Video Footage of Interagency Bison Hazing in Montana's Hebgen Basin & Yellowstone National Park

For Immediate Release:
May 17, 2013

Contacts:
Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign, 406-646-0070, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mike Mease, Buffalo Field Campaign, 406-646-0070, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

West Yellowstone, Montana - Members of America's last continuously wild bison population, the so-called Yellowstone buffalo, have been intensely attacked by state and federal agencies working under the highly controversial Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP). Volunteers with Buffalo Field Campaign, a wild bison advocacy and media group, document all actions made against the buffalo by state and federal agencies and advocate for thier lasting protection.

Watch an exclusive video from Buffalo Field Campaign showing hazing (forced removal) operations that occurred this week:

Buffalo Nightmare: 3 Days Straight of Helicopter Hazing
On May 13, 14 and 15, 2013, a tax payer-funded helicopter harassed the Yellowstone ecosystem. Flying at times barely 20 feet (and sometimes even lower) above the earth and Madison River, the management actions disrupted all in the area. Pregnant buffalo Moms and new born calves were run up to 12 miles in the hazing operation.

"These taxpayer funded hazing operations are highly abusive, disruptive, wasteful, unjustifiable and certainly unnecessary," said Buffalo Field Campaign spokeswoman Stephany Seay. "Wild migratory bison are native to Montana, and are an ecologically extinct keystone wildlife species. The Yellowstone herds are beloved the world over, and should be valued and treated with respect wherever they roam, not brutalized to appease Montana's livestock industry."

Hazing of wild bison takes place every spring in the Hebgen Basin during the height of calving season. On May 13 through 15, the Montana Department of Livestock and other IBMP agencies seriously disrupted the ecosystem and local residents with industrial-scale bison hazing, using a large number of government horsemen, law enforcement officers, and a helicopter to evict native wild bison from Montana. Hazing occurs because Montana's livestock interests refuse to accept wild bison on the landscape. The forced removal of native wild bison in the Hebgen Basin takes place on the public lands of Gallatin National Forest and Yellowstone National Park, as well as on private land where wild bison are welcome.

There are currently no cattle present in the Hebgen Basin, and in most places where wild bison roam in Montana, cattle will never graze.

The Hebgen Basin, west of Yellowstone National Park, is also important habitat for the federally protected threatened grizzly bear.

Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field, the policy arena and the courts to defend and protect America's last wild bison populations.