West Yellowstone, MT- Twenty bison were captured yesterday and a Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) activist arrested in an operation conducted by the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL). Two bulls, eleven cows (many of which were pregnant), and seven yearlings were chased by snowmobiles from the south side of Horse Butte into the nearby trap.

Agencies involved in the operation, including the DOL, the US Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the MT Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks have killed over 3,200 Yellowstone bison since 1985. The slaughter is based on the unsubstantiated fear that bison will transmit Brucellosis to cattle. In nearby Grant Teton National Park, where infected wild bison have co-mingled with cattle for more than 45 years, there has never been a single case of transmission to cattle. In fact, no such transmission has ever occurred anywhere between wild bison and cattle.

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 lack of cattle during the winter months when buffalo are outside the park make such a transmission impossible. The cattle that stock the summer grazing allotments on Horse Butte are from Idaho.

"Montana is killing America's last wild buffalo to protect a few Idaho cattle," said BFC spokesperson Dan Brister. Seven of the bison, including a bull and six cows, were slaughtered today. 13 were released. The DOL began using a different test last week to determine which bison are slaughtered and which released after being questioned by Park Service officials and bison advocates.

In a letter to the Montana State Veterinarian on March 7, 2002, Wayne Brewster, Deputy Director of the Yellowstone Center for Resources stated, "During the development of the Bison Management Plan, MDOL insisted that the card test be the serological test that is used to determine whether bison are removed to slaughter or not. The cooperating agencies should be mindful that the analysis of impacts in the EIS, which Montana adopted for its Record of Decision, was predicated upon historical removal rates based on the results of the card test."

BFC has documented a higher percentage of bison going to slaughter since the change to the FPA test this winter. According to BFC spokesperson Peter Leusch, "The card test is an inaccurate test, and now the FPA has an even higher percentage of false positives. It's obvious that these bison are not being slaughtered because of brucellosis, but out of a misguided prejudice against bison in Montana."

Results of the FPA test sent 32 of 50 (64 percent) of captured bison to slaughter this winter. Since switching back to the CARD test, the figure has dropped to 13 of 35 (26 percent).

Brian Huntington, a BFC volunteer from Missoula, was arrested by Forest Service agents and charged with resisting arrest and obstructing a peace officer at Horse Butte during the capture operation. He was transported to Missoula this morning and arraigned on federal charges. As yesterday's operation was underway a different herd of forty-six bison migrated from the Park near the Madison River and grazed along the shoulders of highway 191, standing in the road and crossing back and forth near a dangerous corner.

Several Gallatin National Forest and Gallatin County law enforcement vehicles drove past on their way to participate in the bison capture at Horse Butte without stopping to warn motorists of the bison in the road. In order to prevent an accident BFC volunteers stationed themselves on the roadside and warned approaching motorists.

"As yesterday's events so clearly illustrate," said Brister, "the present buffalo slaughter is destroying our natural heritage, wasting our tax dollars, and keeping our public servants from doing their jobs."

The Buffalo Field Campaign 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 their native ground and document every move made against them.

Video footage is available upon request

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