| Billings,
MT:
For the first time in 15 years, hunters will shoot Yellowstone
bison as they exit the park on their seasonal migration
into Montana. The Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Commission
adopted regulations for the 2005-2006 bison hunt at
its meeting earlier today.
The Commission approved two seasons: one between Nov.
15, 2005 and Jan. 15, 2006 and another from Jan. 16,
2006 to Feb. 15, 2006. The hunts will take place along
the park’s northern boundary near Gardiner, MT
and along its western boundary near West Yellowstone.
A total of 50 permits will be issued, including 10 already
issued for last year’s cancelled hunt.
Critics of the hunt say bison should be given more tolerance
in Montana before they are hunted. “It is premature
to open a hunting season on bison in Montana without
first opening habitat for them in the state,”
said Dan Brister, Project Director of the Buffalo Field
Campaign.
In the past four years Montana and U.S. officials have
slaughtered more than 930 bison under provisions of
the Interagency Bison Management Plan. “Every
winter and spring, we see bison killed by the hundreds
for committing the crime of entering Montana,”
Brister said. “Now the state wants to shift the
blame to hunters.”
“Our state is making a grave mistake in proceeding
with this hunt,” said Mike Mease, a Montana subsistence
hunter who co-founded the Buffalo Field Campaign. “The
last so-called ‘hunt’ proved a disaster
for Montana and its hunters. People across the country
were outraged when they saw video images of a national
icon being gunned down at close range.”
Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers will videotape and
photograph the hunt and share images with the media,
and through its web site, http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.
BFC has already scheduled field tours of the hunting
grounds with national network news crews.
“We
will document everything,” Brister said, “to
be sure everyone in America sees for themselves what
a bison hunt looks like. There is neither fairness nor
chase involved in killing bison,” Brister added.
“All it requires is walking up to one of the gentle
giants, taking aim, and pulling the trigger. It’s
about as sporting as shooting a parked truck.”
The Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working
in the field, every day, to stop the indiscriminate
slaughter of the Yellowstone bison. Volunteers stand
with the bison and document every move made against
them.
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