West Yellowstone, MT- 34 Yellowstone bison were captured today and two activists arrested in a major bison operation conducted on the Gallatin National Forest. The bison will be tested this afternoon for brucellosis exposure, and most will be sent to slaughter. Like people who have had chickenpox, many exposed bison have antibodies but not the actual disease.

According to tissue culture tests which are much more accurate, more than eighty percent of slaughtered bison are not infectious.

At 7:20 am two Montana Department of Livestock (MDOL) agents on horseback hazed fourteen bison that had been grazing on the Madison River just west of Yellowstone National Park. The operation began within 1/4 mile of open water on the Horse Butte Peninsula.

Gallatin National Forest regulations state that operations will only take place between 10 AM and 3 PM to protect the habitat of endangered bald eagles nesting on Horse Butte. The illegal hazing went on for more than an hour before a concerned citizen locked himself to the capture facility in an attempt to stop the harassment and killing of the Yellowstone herd. Charlie Brister of Stowe, VT attached himself to the facility with a lock box at around 8 am. It took more than an hour for officials to remove Brister, who was arrested and charged with obstruction and trespassing.

Brister said of his actions, "The slaughter of bison because of a myth that has never been substantiated is an embarrassment to this country. There has never been proof of bison to cattle transmission of brucellosis in the wild."

Following Brister's arrest, MDOL, FWP, and Federal agents captured twenty-five bison at Horse Butte. Later agents captured eight bison in a different trap at Duck Creek. Over one hundred bison are currently outside Yellowstone on the west side and several newborn calves have been spotted at Horse Butte.

67 bison have been slaughtered since December. Another citizen, Nicholas Cook, was arrested during the capture after complying with police orders.

Genetic studies recently released by Dr. James Derr of the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine show that the Yellowstone herd comprises the largest number of genetically pure bison remaining. Dr. Derr tested thousands of animals from every public herd and one hundred fifty private herds and found that over ninety percent had animals with cattle DNA.

Dr. Dale F. Lott, an emeritus professor of conservation biology at the University of California at Davis and other bison biologists are concerned that the government's remaining wild bison have limited genetic variability and are isolated in small herds. That isolation could lead to inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity, leaving bison susceptible to disease and harmful mutations.

The current bison management plan does not take genetic diversity of the herd into account. Bison are sent to slaughter based only on the presence of brucellosis antibodies. Yellowstone bison have been shown to possess the NRAMP gene, a possible source of immunity to brucellosis.

According to BFC spokesperson Peter Leusch, "The government is actively destroying the genetic diversity of Yellowstone bison. These bison slaughter operations show a reckless and wanton disregard for the long term survival of America's last pure, wild bison."

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