| West
Yellowstone, MT- Nine bison, including pregnant
cows and yearling calves, were hazed five miles through
more than three feet of snow and captured in the Department
of Livestock's (DOL) Horse Butte bison trap on Sunday.
The DOL didn't try to haze the small herd, which had
only been in Montana for two days, back to the park.
The
bison were grazing along the Madison River a few hundred
yards outside the west boundary of Yellowstone in the
Gallatin National Forest. Agents from the DOL and the
Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks violated
the Gallatin Forest Plan by driving snowmobiles off
designated trails along the Madison River.
According
to the Forest Plan's provisions for protecting fish
and game, "Motorized vehicle use will not be permitted
during the period December 1 through May 1, except on
designated routes" (Gallatin National Forest Forest
Plan, III-44). The Park Service, the Forest Service,
Gallatin County Sheriff's Department, and the MT Highway
Patrol also assisted with the operation.
"These agencies are violating the laws they are supposed
to uphold, destroying our wildlife, and spending 40
million of our tax dollars in the process," said BFC
spokesperson Dan Brister. "Every time an agent drives
his snowmobile through a riparian area, a thousand tourists
are tempted to follow in his tracks," said Brister.
Firing cracker-rounds and throwing sticks and snowballs
at the bison to make them move, the agents chased the
animals for more than three hours. Buffalo Field Campaign
(BFC) journalists were restricted from areas where they
were documenting the operation and threatened with arrest
while tourists on snowmobiles were permitted within
the same areas.
Because the brucellosis test used by the DOL to determine
whether to slaughter or release captured animals detects
antibodies rather than infection, the majority of the
bison that test "positive" and are killed don't actually
carry the disease. Eighty percent of bison testing positive
for exposure prior to slaughter test negative according
to the more accurate culture test conducted after slaughter.
There has never been a documented transmission of brucellosis
from wild bison to livestock. In its 1998 study, Brucellosis
in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the National Academy
of Sciences concluded, "The current risk of transmission
from YNP bison to cattle is low."
Even if buffalo were capable of spreading brucellosis,
the absence of cattle between mid-October and mid-June
make such a transmission impossible. The cattle that
stock the summer grazing allotments on Horse Butte are
shipped in from Idaho.
Montana is killing America's last wild buffalo to protect
a few Idaho cattle.
The Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working
in the field everyday to stop the bison slaughter. Volunteers
defend the buffalo on their native range and advocate
for their protection.
Video and Still Photos are Available on Request.
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