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GARDINER & WEST YELLOWSTONE, MONTANA. The National
Park Service (NPS) captured 211 Yellowstone bison yesterday,
bringing the total number captured since last Wednesday
to 524. Park officials sent 122 to slaughter last week
and plan to slaughter 100 today. The NPS sent 38 yearlings
and calves to Montana's Corwin Springs bison quarantine
facility yesterday. One calf died in the Stephens Creek
facility after its horns were broken off as it was processed
through the trap. US Homeland Security agents have been
escorting the bison to slaughter.
"Montana and the federal government are in a taxpayer
subsidized killing frenzy," said Dan Brister of
the Buffalo Field Campaign. "How shameful for a
country that nearly drove this magnificent animal to
extinction to repeat its sordid history."
The slaughter is being justified under the Interagency
Bison Management Plan (IBMP). The Plan was set up to
protect and maintain a wild population of Yellowstone
bison and protect Montana's livestock industry from
the perceived threat of brucellosis transmission from
wild buffalo to domestic cattle. Even prior to the inception
of the IBMP there has never been a documented case of
brucellosis transmission from wild buffalo to cattle.
In the past ten years, 2,619 buffalo have been killed
(not including today's slaughter) by state and federal
agents and thousands have been denied access to critical
habitat. There are no cattle near the Park's western
boundary, and less than 200 on the northern boundary.
"Montana's zero-tolerance policy continues to demonstrate
that the Interagency Bison Management Plan is failing
the country's last wild buffalo. The Plan values a handful
of cattle more than the country's last wild bison,"
said Stephany Seay of the Buffalo Field Campaign. "Montana's
livestock industry is the sole beneficiary of the current
slaughter. Wild bison are incessantly harassed, captured,
slaughtered, quarantined, and shot anytime they access
their Montana habitat, and sometimes before they even
leave the Park, and that's totally unacceptable to the
American people."
Incidents within just the last week demonstrate
how the IBMP is failing wild buffalo:
* On Thursday the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL),
authorizing agency of Montana's bison hunt, suspended
the hunt to conduct a hazing operation. Riding snowmobiles,
agents harassed about 40 buffalo that had never left
the "tolerance zone," or hunt area, further
west and onto the thin ice covering Hebgen Lake. 14
bison crashed through the ice and two drowned.
* Between Wednesday, January 11 and Monday January 16th
the National Park Service (NPS) captured approximately
524 wild Yellowstone buffalo and will send all but a
few yearlings and calves to slaughter without testing
them for brucellosis antibodies, a direct violation
of the IBMP. 38 yearlings and calves have been sent
to Montana's bison quarantine facility where they will
be raised in captivity and used in scientific experiments.
The majority will be slaughtered.
* The NPS continues to haze and capture buffalo almost
daily along the Park's northern boundary while Montana's
bison hunt is underway just a few miles away.
* As of last night the NPS was holding 364 bison in
the Stephens Creek trap. According to Park spokesman
Al Nash the trap is designed to hold only 200 bison.
Montana reinstated its first bison hunt in fifteen years
in November. Phase I of the hunt ended January 15, and
phase II began yesterday and lasts until February 15.
Eighteen non-Indian hunters killed bison in the first
phase, while only three of eight Indian tribes used
their permits. Seven bison were shot near Gardiner yesterday,
on opening day of phase II of Montana's bison hunt.
The Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) will oppose Montana's
hunt until bison are allowed year-round access to Montana
habitat without facing harassment, capture, slaughter,
quarantine or shooting. BFC strongly opposes the Interagency
Bison Management Plan and advocates for more sensible
risk management, including fencing and vaccination of
domestic cattle in the Montana.
Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in
the field, everyday, to stop the slaughter of the wild
Yellowstone buffalo. Volunteers defend the buffalo on
their native habitat and advocate for their protection.
BFC video footage and photos are available upon request
and may be viewed at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.
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