| WEST
YELLOWSTONE, MONTANA. Two members of the Buffalo
Field Campaign (BFC) were arrested today by Montana
Highway Patrol (MHP) and U.S. Forest Service law enforcement
officers. One BFC volunteer was taken to the hospital
due to injuries caused by the arrest.
The volunteers were arrested for exercising their civil
rights attempting to document today's Montana Department
of Livestock (DOL) and Interagency Bison Management
Plan (IBMP) bison hazing operations.
The first volunteer arrested had witnessed the DOL and
other agents hazing wild bison across U.S. Highway 191.
Highway patrols failed to warn motorists or shut down
traffic. Chased by agents on horseback and a helicopter,
another group of bison was close to crossing the road
and the BFC volunteer urged a Montana Highway Patrolman
to shut down the highway and warn traffic. The MHP responded
to the volunteer's request by arresting him in the heated
exchange.
The second BFC volunteer was arrested after attempting
to document the first volunteer's arrest. The MHP attempted
to take the camera away, and tackled him to the ground,
injuring his face and head. An officer with the U.S.
Forest Service assisted the MHP officer with the arrests.
The arresting officers confiscated two Buffalo Field
Campaign video cameras.
Last week, the same MHP officer was filmed being hostile
and aggressive to BFC volunteers documenting a bison
hazing operation along Hwy. 287. Video footage of this
incident is available at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.
"Today's arrests were completely without warrant,"
said BFC volunteer Jessie Patterson who witnessed the
arrests of both volunteers. "These officers acted
in a violent way when the volunteers were well within
their rights to document government actions on public
lands."
Government officials, including law enforcement, routinely
attempt to prevent BFC from filming bison hazing operations.
Freelance photographer Barbara Michelman was on the
scene of the arrests. One of her photographs can be
viewed below.
Last night, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks held
a public meeting in West Yellowstone regarding Montana's
infamous bison hunt and the agency's involvement in
the Interagency Bison Management Plan. Many BFC members
and residents of the community were present to voice
their opposition to the current mismanagement of wild
bison.
"The rights of American citizens are being infringed
upon and today's behavior is utterly unacceptable and
will be challenged," said BFC spokeswoman Stephany
Seay. "Government agencies are ignoring the voice
of the American people and acting as rogue entities
who answer to no law but their own."
The Montana Department of Livestock (DOL), Montana Fish,
Wildlife & Parks, National Park Service, U.S. Forest
Service and U.S.D.A. Animal & Plant Health Inspection
Service, Gallatin County Sheriffs, and Montana Highway
Patrols all participated in today's bison hazing operation.
The government agents harassed approximately 400 members
of the United State's last wild herd of bison within
the Gallatin National Forest today using horses and
a helicopter. This is the bison's calving season, a
very sensitive time for the species. Pregnant bison
and day-old newborns, as well as other bison, were run
off of public land in an aggressive manner by agents
on horseback and a DOL helicopter. Wild bison were forced
for over eight miles from the northern tip of the Horse
Butte Peninsula along the Madison River back towards
Yellowstone National Park.
One baby bison fell injured and exhausted from the aggressive
and relentless nature of today's hazing operation. The
protective mother was forced to charge a NPS hazer while
he aggressively approached them as her baby buffalo
was attempting to nurse. The bison, with numerous calves,
were run for over 8 miles without rest, food or water.
Hazing bison off of public lands runs contrary to a
November 2006 agreement signed by all Interagency Bison
Management Plan officials, which is supposed to allow
native wild bison access to public lands though May
15. This is the third time in three weeks that the IBMP
agencies have ignored their agreement. The IBMP adaptations
memorandum can be viewed at: http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/legal/adaptivemanagement.html.
The purported reason for the government's aggressive
management of wild bison is the perceived threat of
the cattle-born disease, brucellosis. There has never
been a documented case of wild bison transmitting the
European livestock disease brucellosis to livestock,
even prior to implementation of Interagency Bison Management
Plan.
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 3,600 animals, .01 percent
of the bison's former population.
1,912 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
58.
Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) is the only group working
in the field, every day, to stop the slaughter of the
wild Yellowstone buffalo. Volunteers defend the buffalo
and their native habitat and advocate for their lasting
protection. BFC has proposed real alternatives to the
current mismanagement of Yellowstone bison that can
be viewed at
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/actnow/solutions05.html.
For more information, video clips, and photos visit:
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.
Click
here to download a high quality photo
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