| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| Weekly
Update from the Field May 21, 2009 |
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Bison Calves Injured in Hazing Operations
* Update from the Field
* Complain to FAA About the DOL's Helicopter Use
* Traditional Prayer Ceremony on Horse Butte May 31
* Join BFC on the Front Lines
* Thank You! BFC's Media Crew Receives Laptops
* Last Words
* Kill Tally |
*
Update from the Field
(DOL helicopter hazing bison. Photo courtsey of Lance
Koudele)
The Montana Department of Livestock and Yellowstone National
Park continue to aggressively haze any wild bison in Montana.
The sounds of the rotating blades of the Department of
Livestock's helicopter can be heard outside the media
cabin this morning as I write. Just a few miles from here,
on cattle-free Horse Butte and other areas of Gallatin
National Forest, the buffalo are currently under attack
by livestock interests. BFC patrols are with the buffalo,
documenting all actions made against them. The scenes
we've been witnessing are the stuff of nightmares.
(Newborn bison calf. Photo courtesy of Lyle and Sue Wood)
Within a single week, at least four newborn buffalo have
suffered broken legs or debilitating leg injuries as a
result of government hazing activities. All injuries have
been documented by Buffalo Field Campaign. You can view
footage of last week's injured calf. Be advised that
these images are difficult to watch, but take inspiration
from the mother bison defending her calf. We don't know
the fate of this calf, though the calf that was separated
from it's mother during last week's hazing operations
was reunited with her the following day. Unfortunately,
during today's hazing operation, another mother and calf
were separated, and patrols are currently monitoring the
mother as she searches for her lost baby.
(Bull buffalo near Duck Creek. Photo courtesy of Lance
Koudele)
On Friday the DOL chased all of the bull bison that had
been grazing in the Duck Creek area, deep into Yellowstone
National Park. By Monday, eleven bulls had returned to
their chosen ground, and the DOL resumed their harassment
operations forcing them into Yellowstone, through the
Park's grizzly bear closure area. Patrols documented bulls
being shot with paint balls by the agents. This is a way
the DOL marks the buffalo, so if they return again the
agents can deem them "unhazable" and send them
to slaughter if they feel like it. It is critical to note
that, while the risk of brucellosis transmission from
wild bison to cattle is only theoretical at best (it has
never happened), bull bison pose no risk of transmitting
the livestock disease to cattle, a fact echoed even by
the livestock industry. What's more, there are no cattle
currently in the area. Furthermore, the Adaptive Management
Plan states that bull bison are allowed to be within zone
2 lands year round, an area approximately five miles west
of Yellowstone's boundary. These bulls were in their favorite
Duck Creek migration corridor, which, while still within
the so-called tolerance zone, the agencies Adaptive Plan
deems off limits to them, wantonly setting the buffalo
up to fail.
On Tuesday DOL, NPS, and Montana Fish, Wildlife &
Parks (FWP) horsemen began the day by chasing two moms
and two babies off of Gallatin National Forest for a few
miles through the thick woods, then they picked up another
30 buffalo, including more newborns, and proceeded to
chase them out of this area, and into Yellowstone. On
Wednesday, agents returned again to this cattle-free,
public lands buffalo habitat to haze yet another group
of mixed buffalo, including three newborns. BFC patrols
documented another calf injured by the agents' activities.
After reviewing our footage, we could see that the calf
had a deep cut on its right hind leg, disabling the calf
and preventing it from using the leg. Yet the agents were
unrelenting and pressed them hastily forward, "yipping"
and "hooting" as if on a cattle drive. During
yesterday's haze, another two moms and two babies eluded
the DOL for the remainder of the day, though the agents
tried numerous times to find and harass them.
Today, the agents are back harassing buffalo within Gallatin
National Forest on Horse Butte and the south side of the
Madison River. A group of approximately forty buffalo,
including newborn calves, returned to their sanctuary
on the Galanis property at Horse Butte. We expected another
showdown by livestock inspectors, who force their zero-tolerance
of wild bison on private land where buffalo are welcome.
Last week, the Galanis' son was threatened with arrest
on his own land by DOL agent Shane Grube. The Galanis
family was prepared to defend the buffalo and their property
rights against the DOL's helicopter again today, but by
morning, the buffalo had moved to adjacent National Forest
land, and the agents swept them up with the helicopter
and horsemen, who are now pushing the buffalo along the
northwest bluffs of the Madison River towards Yellowstone
National Park. The hazing will not stop at Yellowstone's
border, but will continue deep into the Park. Patrols
have called in two more reports of calves who's legs have
been injured by hazing activities. That's four calves
in one week, and these are just the ones we know of. Likely
there have been many more injuries to newborns, yearlings
and adults.
Further, agents are running the buffalo for miles, without
allowing them to stop for water, nor allowing calves to
stop for nursing. By the end of the day, these buffalo
will have been chased nearly 20 miles. There will never
be cattle in this area, yet livestock interests continue
to deny the buffalo access to their native habitat - America's
public lands - and the private lands where buffalo are
welcome.
The buffalo will never surrender their ancient migratory
instincts to arbitrary human boundaries, fences, or time
lines. "We the People" must continue to stand
with the buffalo and force the agencies to abandon their
arrogant and senseless actions against wild bison. Cattle
aren't present on public lands in this region, yet millions
of federal tax dollars continue to be squandered to placate
the livestock industry's economic interests. History is
doomed to repeat itself if we don't act. Please continue
to write
President Barack Obama and your
Members of Congress and the decision-makers involved
in this absurd management scheme. We must keep pressure
applied for as long as it takes to set the buffalo free.
ROAM FREE!
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* Complain to FAA About DOL's Helicopter Use
You can make your voice heard to the Federal Aviation
Administration and file a complaint about how an FAA-registered
helicopter is being used by the Montana Department of
Livestock to harass and harm members of America's last
wild population of bison. The helicopter disrupts the
entire ecosystem and all its inhabitants, including wild
bison, grizzly bears, wolves, nesting birds such as Sand
Hill cranes, bald and golden eagles, and white pelicans.
Human residents on the western edge of Yellowstone National
Park are also disturbed by the use of the helicopter,
which flies extremely low through neighborhoods to scare
up bison, hazing them towards Yellowstone. Yellowstone
National Park has shamefully allowed the DOL's helicopter
to intrude within the boundaries of the world's first
national park. Please
contact the FAA to complain about the use of the DOL's
helicopter (registered N1095T) during bison hazing
operations. If enough complaints are received, we may
be able to stop the helicopter from being used, or at
least make it very difficult for the DOL to find a helicopter
that is willing to participate in such aggressive tactics.
Thank you!
------------------------------
* Traditional Prayer Ceremony on Horse Butte May
31
We are honored to announce that on Sunday, May 31, beginning
at 11 am, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation keeper
of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, along with Lakota elder
and BFC co-founder Rosalie Little Thunder, will come to
Montana to hold a traditional ceremony on Horse Butte
in honor of the buffalo. The event is co-sponsored by
Buffalo Field Campaign, Horse Butte Neighbors of Buffalo,
and Seventh Generation Fund's Tatanka Oyate Project.
All are welcome. Following the ceremony there will be
a pot luck community meal in the town of West Yellowstone.
Please RSVP with Stephany.
For more information, including directions and media protocall,
please see
our press release about this special ceremony.
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* BFC Needs You on the Front Lines!
BFC is looking for summer volunteers to help with outreach
in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Talking
to park visitors who are in the company of the buffalo
we are trying to protect is a great way to raise awareness
and make more friends for the buffalo. If you would like
to spend some or all of your summer with BFC, please contact
Chris at volunteer@buffalofieldcampaign.org
or call 406-646-0070.
See you in West Yellowstone in the land of the last wild
buffalo!
------------------------------
* Thank You! BFC's Media Crew Receives Laptops
Buffalo Field Campaign would like to send out many heartfelt
thanks to those who answered our calls for laptops. The
generosity of BFC supporters Chris & Bob Anderlik,
their daughter Kerry Masters, and rock-and-roll's living
legends Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne have enabled our
media crew to grow technologically, and expand our capabilities
of sharing the buffalo's story with the world. We are
so grateful to you for your extreme generosity in helping
us acquire two high-quality laptops. From the bottom of
our hearts, thank you! We are always in need of upgrading
our computers, cameras, FM radios and still cameras to
keep up with the changing times, so if you can help, please
contact us at 406-646-0070 or email Stephany
or Mike.
BFC's Media Crew
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* Last Words
"Almost anywhere and everywhere you go in the American
West you find hordes of [cows].... They are a pest and
a plague. They pollute our springs and streams and rivers.
They infest our canyons, valleys, meadows, and forests.
They graze off the native bluestems and grama and bunch
grasses, leaving behind jungles of prickly pear. They
trample down the native forbs and shrubs and cacti. They
spread the exotic cheatgrass, the Russian thistle, and
the crested wheat grass. Weeds. Even when the cattle are
not physically present, you see the dung and the flies
and the mud and the dust and the general destruction.
If you don't see it, you'll smell it. The whole American
West stinks of cattle."
~ The late Edward Abbey, conservationist and author, in
a speech at the University of Montana in 1985
------------------------------
* Kill Tally
AMERICAN BISON ELIMINATED from the
last wild population in the U.S.
2008-2009 Total: 17
2008-2009 Slaughter: 0
2008-2009 Hunt: 1
2008-2009 Quarantine: 0
2008-2009 Shot by Agents: 1
2008-2009 Highway Mortality: 16
2007-2008 Total: 1,631
Total Since 2000: 3,698*
*includes lethal government action, quarantine, hunts,
highway mortalities |
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Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the
U.S.
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