| Yesterday
afternoon, Montana Department of Livestock (MDOL) agents
along with Yellowstone National Park Rangers captured
one bull buffalo at the Duck Creek buffalo trap located
less than 200 yards from the western border of Yellowstone
National Park. The buffalo was chased across Highway
191 to the trap using horses and an ATV. The buffalo
had been grazing peacefully near the Lower Bear Trap
housing development less than two miles from the Park
border for the past several days.
The buffalo was not tested for brucellosis before being
shipped to a Montana slaughterhouse. Montana State Veterinarian
Tom Linfield said that the buffalo was killed because
of "private property concerns" and because
the current population is over the 3,000 cap set in
the Interagency Bison Management Plan. The 3,000 population
cap in the Plan is an arbitrarily derived number that
was reached as a political compromise. However, the
Plan still requires testing for brucellosis and the
release of negative animals until after the late-winter/early
spring count. Only then, if the population exceeds 3,000
can the MDOL legally kill buffalo without testing between
October 15 and May 15. The test that determines which
buffalo are sent to slaughter only detects the presence
of long-term antibodies to the bacteria. It does not
indicate whether the buffalo is actually infected with
brucellosis bacteria or capable of transmitting the
disease.
There has never been a documented case of brucellosis
transmission between wild bison and domestic cattle.
It is a widely know fact that bull buffalo present no
risk of brucellosis transmission to cattle, especially
if cattle are not even present in the area. Ironically,
MDOL agents assisted in removing the last domestic cattle
still grazing near the Park's western boundary yesterday.
Cattle will not be present near the western boundary
again until the middle of June, 2005.
Today's capture and slaughter operation demonstrates
the MDOL's refusal to accept sound science about brucellosis
transmission in their management decisions and comes
on the heels of Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Brian
Schweitzer's announcement that if elected, buffalo would
enjoy more tolerance in Montana. In his statements,
Schweitzer said that management of buffalo and the protection
of Montana's brucellosis-free status should be determined
by "science, not hyperbole", and that the
MDOL is "ill equipped" to manage wild buffalo
for the State of Montana. "Once again, the Department
of Livestock has shown why we need a change of leadership
in Montana. Hopefully, come January, this madness will
come to an end," Josh Osher, Buffalo Field Campaign.
In the nine years that the MDOL has had authority over
wild buffalo that migrate into Montana from Yellowstone
National Park, 2,782 buffalo have been killed. Countless
others have been hazed and captured by the MDOL with
significant consequences to the health of the herd and
those individual buffalo. MDOL's hazing and capture
operations also inflict terrible damage on the Greater
Yellowstone ecosystem impacting all of the areas wildlife
including elk, moose, trumpeter swans, threatened grizzly
bears, and bald eagles.
The Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) is the only group working
in the field, everyday, to stop the slaughter of Yellowstone's
wild buffalo. Volunteers defend the buffalo on their
traditional winter habitat and advocate for their protection.
Daily patrols stand with the buffalo on the ground they
choose to be on and document every move made against
them.
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