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* Update from the Field
Dear Buffalo Friends,
Our gratitude to everyone who took action and made a
huge difference for the buffalo! Public pressure made
the change! The announcement last Friday by state and
federal officials to call off the slaughter of nearly
300 wild buffalo babies, moms and families shows that
your action matters. In this case, it was the difference
between life and death for those buffalo. Thank you!
The agents have kept the buffalo trap up. They spent
a lot of our federal tax dollars early in the week,
doing a few recons looking for any buffalo still in
Montana. They were finding no trace. Until yesterday,
it appeared that the buffalo would choose to stay inside
Yellowstone. But buffalo will be buffalo, and a small
group of about fifty have migrated west, back into Montana.
These wild buffalo are representing that they are not
"park" animals, nor are they "renegades."
Needless to say, BFC is still running full field patrols,
though it's quite unusual at this point in June.
We applaud the buffalo's persistence, and their graceful
way of showing what real buffalo restoration looks like.
We aren't sure yet what the agents will do; so far,
they have done nothing which feels pretty eerie. If
they stick to their new plan, they will capture the
buffalo and transport them to Yellowstone's northern
boundary. Apparently, the agents would attempt to separate
moms and other adult buffalo from the babies in an attempt
to keep them from goring and stampeding the little calves.
Naturally, wild buffalo panic when they are trapped
and manhandled, and there's no telling what separating
moms from calves will do. Capture and transport will
be a nightmare for them. The buffalo would then be trucked
to the Stephens Creek bison capture facility and then
later released after the moms and babies "mother
up" (find each other after the difficult journey).
The irony here is that the agents are removing buffalo
from an area where there are no cattle to an area where
there are.
We are sad to report that a recent update from the Interagency
Bison Management Plan agencies stated that on Wednesday,
May 23, two bull bison were captured at Duck Creek and
sent to slaughter without being tested for brucellosis
exposure. The bulls were originally three in number;
they were hazed by DOL agents from the Lower Bear Trap
subdivision (where DOL agent Shane Grube lives), and
one apparently got away. BFC patrols were notified that
capture may have happened, but were unable to confirm
it in the field. No BFC patrols saw truck/trailer with
bison leaving the Duck Creek trap at the Koelzer property.
The DOL in the IBMP reports confirm capture and slaughter
of two bull bison. By killing bulls that cannot transmit
the disease without testing them for exposure, the agencies
again demonstrated that this issue is not about brucellosis.
Neither hazing, capture, nor slaughter are acceptable
ultimatums. What wild buffalo need is year-round habitat
in Montana. Gallatin National Forest's Horse Butte Peninsula
is the perfect place to start as the buffalo continue
to demonstrate so well. Back up the buffalo's chosen
footsteps and keep the pressure applied on the decision-makers:
let the buffalo roam!
Roam Free,
~Stephany
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* BFC: Ten Years and Counting!
The generations of the buffalo people are coming home.
All week long, old and new volunteers, and even kids
conceived here over the past decade are returning to
camp. The memories, stories and continued commitment
for the buffalo grows more and more each day. Saturday's
festivities are coming together beautifully with over
100 silent action items donated. Navajo Tacos, Spanish
rice, salad, fresh salsa, guacamole, fruit salad, and
chocolate cake are on the menu. And thanks to a generous
donation from Glacier Brewery in Polson, MT we'll have
several beers, root beer, and cherry cola. Montana bands
Prisoners of Time, Three-legged Dog, and Odyssey will
rock West Yellowstone all for the low, low price of
what you can afford to donate.
All donations will qualify for the Earth Friends Wildlife
Foundation Matching Grant. We hope you can make it in
person to celebrate ten years of Buffalo Field Campaign.
~ Mike Mease
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* Buffalo in the News
6/5/07 LTE: Golden Pen Award ~ Right a wrong, preserve
wild bison
Billings Gazette (Montana)
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/06/03/opinion/letters/46-golden.txt
6/5/07 LTE: Bison wrong target for DOL slaughter
Billings Gazette (Montana)
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/06/03/opinion/letters/50-wrongtarget.txt
6/4/07 Officials hopeful they won't have to truck renegade
bison
Billings Gazette (Montana)
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/06/04/news/wyoming/15-bison.txt
6/2/07 Montana, under pressure, to take bison back to
Yellowstone
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/us/02bison.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
6/2/07 Facing slaughter, the bison that battled back
from extinction
The London Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1873075.ece
6/2/07 Bison slaughter solution averted
The Missoulian (Montana)
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/06/02/news/mtregional/news08.txt
6/2/07 Censorship and cop brutality in the new bison
wars
Counter Punch
http://www.counterpunch.org/stewart06022007.html
6/1/07 LTE: Buffalo Skull on Montana's new quarters
has significance
West Yellowstone News (Montana)
http://westyellowstonenews.com/articles/2007/06/01/opinions/letter1.txt
6/1/07 Calf concerns delay bison slaughter
Jackson Hole Star Tribune (Wyoming)
http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2007/06/01/news/regional/827fe270b822e0ec872572ec0064a9db.txt
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* Summer Tabling Opportunities
The Buffalo Field Campaign is looking for tablers to
educate visitors of Yellowstone National Park about
the plight of the Yellowstone Bison. This is an amazing
opportunity to learn about the last free-ranging, wild
bison in America! Volunteers will be in the magnificent
beauty of Yellowstone National Park, well-fed and able
to explore the park's natural wonders, such as Old Faithful,
after daily outreach.
Interested? Contact Stephanie Munce at: buffalo@wildrockies.org
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* Last Word
To laugh often and much...
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection
of children...
To leave the world a better place...
To know even one life has breathed easier because you
have lived...
This is to have succeeded.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
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