| The
first buffalo calf born on the West side of Yellowstone
National Park died early this morning, Sunday April
9th. BFC volunteers, on their early morning patrol of
the North side of the Madison, noticed the carcass among
the willows where the calf and its mother had been feeding
for the past few days. The calf was born during the
night before the most recent hazing operation cond-ucted
last Thursday April 6th by the Montana Department of
Livestock, together with the Montana Deparment of Fish,
Wildlife and Parks, Gallatin County Sheriff personnel
and the National Park Service. Using cracker barrel
shotguns and snowmobiles, the Department of Livestock
ran a mixed herd of fourteen buffalo over two miles
from the North side of the Madison back into the Park.
BFC
volunteers stood between the buffalo mother and its
newborn calf and the DoL agents and watched while the
animals attempted to make their way down the bluff towards
the river and away from the hazing.
By
the DoL's own admission the calf was too young to move
and since Thursday, BFC volunteers have been monitoring
the calf's progress on a regular basis and have noticed
its deterioration over Saturday and Sunday. Horse Butte
is traditional spring calving habitat for buffalo as
well as home to a wide range of other wildlife including
elk, moose and bald eagle. "The DoL say they are ensuring
the health safety of livestock and citizens but chasing
pregnant females around makes no sense even from a disease
control point of view," said a BFC volunteer on the
scene today.
"All
it does is create unnecessary stress for pregnant buffalo,
as well as pregnant elk and moose, thereby increasing
the risk that these animals could abort, suffer injury
or die." Hazings such as happened last week are completely
unnecessary. Cattle will not be brought back to the
area for another two months. They waste taxpayer money
and interfere with wildlife at a time when animals are
particularly vulnerable.
Buffalo
Field Campaign works to defend the buffalo on their
traditional habitat and to advocate for their long term
protection and conservation. The Campaign has consistently
called on the DoL to cease their policy of hazing and
slaughtering the last wild and free roaming buffalo
herd in the U.S.
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